I was out with my friends near the water spring during Ramadan. It was around 5:00 a.m. Suddenly we were ambushed by a group of Israeli soldiers. About 15 soldiers blocked the road and forced the car we were in to stop. Then they smashed the windows of the car with the back of their guns and forced us out of the vehicle. 

 

They forced me out of the car and immediately searched me and then beat me all over my body. Then they tied my hands behind my back with one plastic tie which was tight and painful. They also blindfolded me.

 

I was then pushed into the back of a military jeep where I sat on a seat. The jeep drove to a nearby military base where I was examined by a doctor. While waiting soldiers poured hot and cold water on me and swore at my religion. 

 

Then I was taken to the police station in Binyamin settlement where I waited inside a room until it was my turn to be interrogated. I was tied and blindfolded the whole time and I could not tell the time.

 

The interrogator wore civilian clothes. He removed the blindfold but kept me tied. He told me I had the right to consult with a lawyer but he did not call one for me. He called the father of another boy who was arrested with me and told him to tell my father I was at Benyamin police station. I later found out that my father and the father of the other boy came to the police station based on the phone call but they were turned back at the gate and they were not allowed in. 

 

The interrogator did not inform me of my right to silence and immediately told me my friends who were arrested with me had confessed against me and I had no choice but to confess. He named the boys and I told him I did not know them. He wanted me to confess to attempting to attack a settler car. I denied the accusation. 

 

Then he told me that the soldiers had also testified against me and claimed they had photographic evidence against me. It turned out that they had taken pictures of me and my friends walking in the fields enjoying ourselves at dawn. I was not seen doing anything wrong in the photos. He interrogated me for about two hours and kept repeating the same things over and over again and I continued to deny the accusation. 

 

Then he printed out some documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them and I did. I had no idea what was written in the documents but I thought it was a routine thing for me to sign them and I did. Then I was blindfolded and taken back into the room where I waited.

 

Later I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem, where I was strip searched and taken to Section 13. It was around 4:00 a.m. by the time I arrived  at the prison and the the other detainees prepared some food for me. 

 

On Monday, 19 June 2017, I was taken to the military court. My father was in court and so was my lawyer. The hearing was adjourned and I was taken back to Ofer prison.

 

After my first hearing I was taken back twice to Binyamin police station. The first time I was taken in the vehicle to Binyamin but I was never interrogated and I was taken back to Ofer prison. The second time I was interrogated.

 

The second interrogator told me all my friends had confessed against me and told me to confess. I denied the accusation and did not confess and I asked to see a lawyer. The interrogator called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to confess and not to sign any documents. This interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes. At the end the interrogator printed out some documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them but I refused to sign based on the lawyer’s advice. I was then taken back to Ofer prison.

 

In all I had about 10 military court hearings. In the end I was sentenced in a plea bargain to nine months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. I also received a suspended sentence of 13 months in prison suspended for five years. The sentencing was based on the testimonies of soldiers.

 

I turned 18 in prison and then I was transferred to a prison in the Negev inside Israel. I was released on 22 February 2018, at Adh Dhahiriya checkpoint and it took me more than two-and-a-half hours to get home with my family.

 

In prison I was bored. I slept a lot and walked around the compound twice a day. My family visited me seven times in Ofer but only once in the Negev.