Palestine prisoner: ‘Negev Prison is like Guantanamo Bay’

A Palestinian prisoner from the occupied West Bank, who was recently released, has stated that the Israeli occupation prisons have become exact copies of the notorious Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay detention centres regarding the torture to which the prisoners are subjected.

Louay Al-Taweel (37), from the city of Hebron, talked about the “torture, humiliation and deprivation of food and medicine” he endured in Israeli prisons. He described that prisoners detained at Negev Prison: “Do not see the sun, nor do they get fresh air.”

Al-Taweel explained that the Negev prison is an exact copy of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons, both “notorious symbols” of US human rights violations.

Al-Taweel was arrested on 20 October, and an administrative sentence of six months was issued against him. He was imprisoned in Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, before being transferred to Negev Prison.

Al-Taweel revealed that an administrative sentence was issued against him for six months before the sentence was reduced for a month, then extended for another month, and extended again for a third month: “The judge did not find any reason for the arrest, and each time, he extended the detention based on the recommendation of the intelligence service.”

Regarding the horrors of torture, Al-Taweel said: “We were held in challenging conditions, as prisoners were always exposed to torture of all kinds, including physical and psychological torture and were deprived of food and insulted.”

“After a few days of detention, I was transferred to the Negev Prison. It was extremely shocking, as prisoners are met with a trained rapid response known as Keter. Prisoners are stripped naked in a very humiliating manner and are subjected to severe beatings amidst insults and abuses.”

According to Al-Taweel: “The injured do not receive any treatment, and the prison doctor does not provide any care, leaving the disease to fate.”

Al-Taweel was arrested several times and held in Israeli prisons, where he spent about ten years, but he described the latest arrest as “the most difficult”.

“The situation in the prisons is hazardous, and the lives of the prisoners are literally hell. Prisoners are treated as a criminal and a Daesh member. There are no laws and there is a complete absence of human rights organisations.”

Al-Taweel complained about overcrowding in Israeli prisons and said that he was held in a room in the Negev Prison with ten other prisoners, noting that there are about 1,100 prisoners in the prison: “At all times throughout the day, prisoners are subjected to severe beatings, humiliation, psychological torture and being deprived of their belongings.”

Al-Taweel recounted that he lost 20 kilograms in two and a half months.

He added: “Any form of worship is prohibited, reading the Quran is prohibited, congregational prayer and raising the call to prayer is prohibited.” Al-Taweel said that many prisoners are ill, especially the elderly, due to medical neglect and daily abuse.

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