I woke up at around 2:00 a.m. to the sound of banging at our front door. My mother answered and a group of Israeli soldiers entered our home and asked for me. The commander told me to prepare myself because I was under arrest. He told my mother he was going to take me for questioning and would return me home shortly afterwards. They did not give us any documents and did not tell us the reason for my arrest or where they were going to take me.

 

The soldiers took me out of the house and handcuffed me to the back with metal handcuffs which were tight. Then I was taken to the back of a jeep where I sat on the metal floor. The jeep drove a short distance to the nearby settlement of Qedumim.

 

On arrival at the settlement I was transferred to a troop carrier which drove for about an hour to Huwwara military base near Nablus. At Huwwara I was examined by a doctor who removed the handcuffs and replaced them when he was done. Then I was blindfolded and taken back to the troop carrier which drove for another hour or so to the police station in Ariel settlement.

 

On arrival at Ariel I was taken to a corridor where I sat on a chair for about 15 minutes before being taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator removed the blindfold but kept my handcuffs on. Before questioning me he told me I had the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer. He called my mother and told her to come to the police station to attend my interrogation. He also called my cousin and asked him to appoint me a lawyer. I later found out that my cousin had come to the police station but he was not allowed in. I did not speak to a lawyer.

 

Then the interrogator accused me of throwing stones at soldiers. He wanted to know where I was on Friday during the weekly protest. I told him I was at home. Then he showed me a photograph of a boy throwing stones at soldiers and I told him it was not me. He interrogated me for about an hour through an interpreter. During this time the interrogator verbally abused me and swore at me saying bad things about my religion. The interpreter also slapped me on the neck when I remained silent and did not respond to the questions. I continued to deny the accusation the whole time.

 

Then the interrogator printed out a document in both Hebrew and Arabic and asked me to sign it but I refused because I wasn’t sure that the Hebrew was identical to the Arabic. The interrogator lost his temper and told me it was in my interest to sign and not signing was not good for me. He started to swear at me and to say this was going to harm me in court but I insisted and refused to sign anything.

 

After the interrogation my photograph and fingerprints were taken. I was then blindfolded again and taken to a troop carrier where I sat on a seat. The troop carrier drove me to Huwwara military base.

 

At Huwwara I was strip searched and a soldier asked me to crouch up and down while naked. Then I was taken to a cell where they removed the handcuffs and the blindfold and I remained by myself until around 5:00 p.m. At around 5:00 p.m. I was blindfolded and handcuffed again and put in a troop carrier which drove for about two hours to Megiddo prison, inside Israel. At Megiddo I was searched with my clothes on then I was taken to the juvenile section.

 

While I was at Megiddo I had three military court hearings which my family attended and my lawyer and I was allowed to speak to them. At the last hearing the military judge asked whether there was a soldier or someone else who could verify that the boy in the picture seen throwing stones was me but no one came and the judge decided to release me for lack of evidence.

 

I was released on 1 June 2017 at around 3:00 a.m. at Al Jalama checkpoint and I went home with my family. We arrived home at around 5:00 a.m. I was released without charge and without paying any fine.