RAMALLAH: Mahmoud Al-Haj, a 22-year-old prisoner from the village of Beit Sira west of Ramallah, has been subjected to a brutal assault by Israeli guards and interrogators at the Moscovia Detention Center in occupied Jerusalem.

According to a lawyer from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, who visited Al-Haj at the end of last week, the prisoner has been under continuous interrogation since his arrest on July 8th.

During the visit, Al-Haj described the recent brutal assault, explaining that an Israeli interrogator shouted loudly in his face. As he moved his head away, it accidentally struck the interrogator’s face and nose. Following this incident, a group of soldiers removed him from the interrogation room, took him to the corridors, and began beating him with sticks on his back.

He was subsequently transferred to the prison clinic and then to a holding cell, where he was restrained to a bed and deprived of food, water, and access to a bathroom for 40 hours. Additionally, the
interrogator who was struck filed a complaint against him.

The Commission warned of the severe risk to Al-Haj’s safety and called on human rights and humanitarian organizations to exert all possible pressure to secure his release from the Moscovia Detention Center and to protect him from further abuse by guards and interrogators.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA