NABLUS – The harrowing experiences endured by Palestinian prisoner Banan Barham were, by his own account, less traumatic than the cries of pain he overheard, which included the agonizing pleas and the subsequent death of a fellow inmate.
Recently released from Israeli detention after a 16-year sentence, 42-year-old Barham stands as a witness to the fatal beating of his compatriot, 38-year-old Thaer Abu Asab, on November 18th last year.
Barham narrates to Al Jazeera the details he heard directly from prisoner Hisham Taqatqa about the execution of Abu Asab, who hailed from the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya. His account is one of the few to shine a light on the dire conditions and treatment faced by the Palestinian prisoners – a story which has been largely shrouded in secrecy, save for the sparse information released by the occupying forces concerning six Palestinian prisoners killed in detention since the offensive on Gaza.
Barham emphasized the importance of enduring accuracy, relating the testimony given by Taqatqa with precision, saying, "I was among the first prisoners released who met with Hisham. In my possession, I carried details that could expose and condemn the crimes of the occupiers."
In the Negev Detention Center, where the incident took place, Abu Asab's only fault as the representative of the inmates in his section was in asking an Israeli guard, "How long will we continue like this? Is there any news of a truce?" In response, the guard said, "I will come back to you with an answer."
"Thaer felt uneasy after his simple inquiry, suspecting something might happen. He returned to his fellow prisoners, apologized for his actions, and told them he would sit at the front of the room to face any possible assault," Barham continued.
He recounted further, "The 'answer' came in about three hours, with 19 masked and armed soldiers wielding metal batons and accompanied by police dogs. They stormed Thaer's room, where he and seven others were held. After a humiliating 'roll call,' the soldiers checked Thaer's full name, ordered the prisoners to turn their backs, raise their hands above their heads, and squat."
"In the midst of this, a dog attacked prisoner Hisham Taqatqa, pinning him down, as the guards brutally beat Thaer and his companions with sticks and batons for approximately 20 minutes straight, to the point where Thaer's hands fell from above his head, incapacitating him, while the others lost consciousness."
Initially, the guards paused and nearly left the room, but abruptly returned to beat Thaer again, ensuring they had delivered the fatal blow, Barham added.
"Where are you, mom?" cried Thaer as Taqatqa miraculously escaped further injury due to the dog sitting on him—since the guards "did not want to harm the dog"—and he began yelling for inmates in the adjacent room, trying to save Thaer, who began gasping for air, writhing in pain, screaming for his mother, and then fell into unconsciousness.
Over an hour and a half later, due to fellow prisoners' demands, a guard reluctantly allowed a doctor's visit. They then extracted Thaer, by then lifeless, from the room.
The rest of the inmates were left in their cells, unconscious and near death. When Taqatqa pleaded for medical attention, the guard refused, instructing him, "Check on them, and if you find someone alive, leave them be; do not summon me unless someone dies."
The prisoners remained in that critical condition until the next day when the police arrived to investigate the incident and reviewed them as if they were already corpses—no medical aid provided—while the investigation purportedly claimed a brawl among the prisoners had caused Thaer's death. Taqatqa countered the accusation and called for a thorough investigation and autopsy of the body battered by baton blows.
Upon his release, Barham conveyed the testimony about Abu Asab's killing to his mother, addressing the "where are you, mom?" plea and she commented, "I cannot believe that Thaer is gone; I await his visits, and my agony won't cease until I see him again."
The hidden is more tremendous, as Abu Asab had been incarcerated since 2005 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He is among the six prisoners who were killed within the confines of Israeli jails during the onslaught on Gaza since October 7th.
Israeli media sources indicated additional prisoner deaths from Gaza in the "Sde Teiman" camp in Beersheba (south), yet the occupying forces have been reticent to disclose their fates.
Families of the deceased prisoners previously accused the occupation authorities of killing their sons post-arrest in interviews with Al Jazeera, particularly citing cases like Omar Dragmah from Tubas and Arafat Hamdan from Ramallah. Meanwhile, Israel has opened investigations into some of these deaths.
Rights organizations in Palestine document 243 cases of prisoner fatalities inside occupation jails since 1967, with Israel still holding the remains of 17, one of which is Abu Asab's.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society and the Palestinian Prisoner Club, the investigation into the circumstances of the prisoners' deaths, prompted by legal efforts of these institutions, aims not to seek justice from the occupiers, but to halt the escalating torture and mistreatment of detainees.
Premeditated Killing
Amani Sarahneh, media officer at the Palestinian Prisoner Club, suspects that Israel's initiation of investigations into the prisoners' deaths is an attempt to avert the case reaching the International Criminal Court and thereby dismiss it locally.
"We've seen a deliberate intent and direction within the occupation's government to execute prisoners, with its leaders calling for laws to be enacted for this purpose. However, they are already carrying out executions without legal sanction, fueled by a logic of retribution," Sarahneh told Al Jazeera.
"Following October 7th, human rights institutions shifted their focus from terms such as 'medical negligence' or 'torture' to describe the prisoners' deaths, recognizing a decision by the occupation to execute prisoners; thus, any prisoner who dies after this date does so due to murder," she added, highlighting the shift to dealing with individuals in the prison administration who revel in "vengeance."
