There were clashes with Israeli soldiers during a Friday demonstration near the checkpoint. It was around 1:00 p.m. I was not paying attention to the soldiers who had laid an ambush. About 15 soldiers chased me and I tried to escape but there was no way out for me as the soldiers had surrounded me from all directions. 

 

One soldier, who was hiding in the public toilet, suddenly came out and slapped me so hard that I fell to the ground. Another soldier tied my hands to the back with one plastic tie and then handcuffed me with metal hand cuffs on top of the plastic tie. The tie and the handcuffs were very painful and I still have marks on my wrists nearly six months later. I was also blindfolded.

 

A soldier then took off my boots and dragged me towards the Israeli side of the checkpoint. On the other side of the checkpoint the soldiers beat me all over my body, kicked and slapped me. I was in pain. They also swore at me and called me a “fucker son of a whore”. 

 

Then I was taken to the back of a troop carrier where I sat on a seat and taken to Zufin military base. I was taken to a room where I remained for about two hours. A guard was with me the whole time. Then I was examined by a doctor who removed the tie and the handcuffs and handcuffed me again when he was done. 

 

Then I was taken to the police station in Ariel settlement. I arrived there at around 5:00 p.m. I was shackled and taken to a room where I waited for another two hours. A person who spoke good Arabic approached me and told me I had to tell him what I was doing in the area. He did not inform me of my rights. I told him I was on agriculture land which my family owns near the checkpoint. He told me if I did not tell him the truth I would be in trouble because he knew everything there was to know about me and threatened to take me to the basement where I would be beaten by soldiers. At around 7:00 p.m. I was taken for a formal interrogation. 

 

The interrogator removed the blindfold and the handcuffs and kept me shackled. He had a voice recorder and he asked me how I was. Then he asked me whether I wanted a lawyer. I told him I did and he allowed me to call a lawyer I knew but he did not answer his phone. The interrogator did not inform me of my right to silence. 

 

The interrogator showed me video footage and photographs taken during the protest and accused me of throwing stones at soldiers. I denied the photos were of me and he accused me of lying and claimed he knew everything about me. He raised his voice at me while he spoke. 

 

I was interrogated for about 30 minutes. In the end I confessed because I wanted to get it over with. The interrogator showed me documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them and I did without understanding what was written. Then they took my fingerprints and photograph and drove me to Huwwara military base. I arrived there after midnight. 

 

At Huwwara I was strip searched and I spent the night there. I was given some food but I did not eat because I found it unappetising. Then I was taken to Megiddo prison, inside Israel where I was strip searched again.

 

Two days later I was taken to Salem military court but my family did not attend because they were not notified. The military judge decided to extend my detention and the hearing was adjourned. I had 10 hearings and at the last one I was sentenced in a plea bargain to nine months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. I was also given a year in prison suspended for 5 years. I accepted the plea bargain because my lawyer told me I would have a harsher sentence if I did not.

 

I spent my entire prison sentence in Megiddo prison. My parents visited me only twice because they were denied permits to visit me for security reasons. In prison I studied Arabic, Hebrew and mathematics.

 

About six months into my sentence I appeared in front of a military judge who decided to release me three months early because of good conduct. I think the prison was overcrowded and they needed the space. I was released on 21 June 2018, at Al Jalama checkpoint. My father and his friend and my cousin were waiting for me and I went home with them. I arrived home at around 7:00 p.m.