The prisoner Thaer Abu Asab was arrested in 2005 and is one of 6 prisoners who were martyred in the occupation prisons during the period of aggression on Gaza (social media)
Nablus – What the Palestinian prisoner Banan Barham experienced was a reality that was easier for him than what he heard with his ears, as torture by severe beatings, starvation, thirst and deprivation of bathing, bedding and blanket amid extreme cold, was tolerable in front of hearing moans and screams coming from the rooms of his comrades, and then the martyrdom of one of them.
Barham, 42, who was released from Israeli prisons a few days ago, after 16 years of detention, stands as one of the witnesses to the beating of his comrade, Thaer Abu Asab, 38, on November 18.
Barham tells Al Jazeera Net what he heard text and letter from the prisoner Hisham Taqatqa, about the execution of the prisoner Abu Asab, hailing from the city of Qalqilya north of the West Bank, to be the first carrier of the news with its horrific details that remained under wraps, except for what scarce, and stated by the occupation, about the circumstances of the martyrdom of 6 Palestinian prisoners killed inside his detention centers since the war on Gaza.
Barham says that he paid attention to the story to convey it accurately and accurately from its source, the prisoner Taqatqa, "because I was the first released prisoner with whom Hisham met, and I have details that reveal and expose the crimes of the occupation."
Banan Barham was the first to quote the prisoner's companion Abu Asab as saying that he was martyred in prison (Al Jazeera)
Redeem the prisoners
In the Israeli Negev desert detention center where the incident took place, it was not the fault of the prisoner Thaer Abu Asab, as a representative of the prisoners in his department, but he asked the Israeli guard, "How long will we be like this? Is there any news of a truce?" and the guard replied, "I'll give you the answer."
"After his simple question, Thaer felt that something would happen, and he returned to the prisoners of his comrades, apologized to them for what he had done, and told them that he would sit at the front of the room to confront any intrusion into the room," Barham said.
"The answer came after about 3 hours, through 19 masked soldiers armed with iron batons and sniffer dogs, and stormed Thaer's room and 7 other prisoners, and after they finished the humiliating counting process for them, and verified Thaer's full name, they ordered the prisoners to turn back, raise their hands above the head and squat."
Barham continued, "In the meantime, the dog attacked the prisoner Hisham Taqata, and sat on top of his body, then the jailers beat Thaer and his companions severely with sticks and iron batons, and for about 20 minutes continuously, and then Thaer's hand fell from above his head, and he was unable to lift it, and his movement was completely paralyzed, while the other prisoners were unconscious."
For a moment, the guards stopped and almost left the room, but soon they started beating Thaer again and more violently, "to make sure that it was the final blow," Barham added.
"Where are you, Mom?"
Fortunately for the prisoner Taqatqa that the dog sat above him protected him from fatal blows, "because they do not want to harm the dog", so he shouted and begged the prisoners in the second room trying to save Thaer who was suffocated and shortness of breath, and he turned over and shouted "Wenk (where are you) Mom."
Barham continues what he heard, "Thaer dragged his exhausted body towards the prisoner Taqatqa, and tried to get up, then shouted (O mother) and fell to the ground and lost consciousness," to renew his appeal to the prisoners who tried to help him by giving advice to deal with Thaer.
After about an hour and a half, under pressure from the prisoners, the guard responded, brought in the doctor, and released the prisoner Thaer, who had died.
In the midst of all this, the rest of the prisoners were left in the room alone, struggling with death and unconscious, and when Taqatqa appealed to the guard again to bring them a doctor, he refused and cursed him, telling him, "Go and check on them, and whoever you find alive, leave him, and other than the death of any of them, do not summon me."
The prisoners remained intact for the next day, when the police came for interrogation, and were examined as if they were corpses without providing them with treatment, while the police, while interrogating Taqatqa claimed that a quarrel had occurred between the prisoners themselves, and that Thaer was a victim of that, "and Taqatqa refuted that, and called for an investigation and examination of the body thickened with iron batons."
As soon as he was freed, the prisoner Banan Barham transferred his testimony about the killing of the prisoner Abu Asab to his mother, to be the first to respond to his cries "Oh my mother", and she said, "I did not believe that Thaer died, and I am waiting for his visits, and my fire will not cool until I see him."
The greatest concealer
The occupation arrested Thaer Abu Asab in 2005, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, and he is one of the 6 prisoners who were martyred inside the occupation detention centers during the period of aggression on Gaza since the seventh of last October.
While Israeli media reported the martyrdom of other detainees from Gaza in the "Sde Timan" camp in Beersheba (south), but the occupation refuses to reveal their fate.
The families of the martyrs prisoners accused – in previous conversations with Al Jazeera Net – the occupation authorities of killing their sons after arresting and beating them, especially the families of the martyrs Omar Daraghmeh from the city of Tubas and Arafat Hamdan from Ramallah, while Israel opened investigations to determine the circumstances of the martyrdom of some of them.
Palestinian human rights organizations have documented 243 cases of prisoners who have been martyred inside Israeli prisons since the occupation in 1967, and Israel is still holding the bodies of 17 of them, one of which is the body of the prisoner Abu Asab.
The Prisoners' Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club say that the investigation into the circumstances of the prisoners' martyrdom, which came as a result of legal efforts by these institutions, "is not to seek justice from the occupation, but to put an end to the torture and abuse that has escalated against detainees."
Popular vigil demands the recovery of the body of the martyr prisoner Thaer Abu Asab in his hometown of Qalqilya (Al Jazeera)
Premeditated murder
Amani Sarahneh, media officer at the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, said Israel is likely to open investigations into the prisoners' martyrdom "to avoid the file reaching the International Criminal Court, and thus dropping it locally."
Sarahna says to Al Jazeera Net, "There is a premeditated intention and orientation of the occupation government to execute prisoners, where he called on its heads to approve the laws for that, but in fact they apply the execution without law, and act with the logic of revenge."
"After October 7, the priority of human rights institutions is no longer to focus on terms such as medical negligence or torture to describe the martyrdom of prisoners, as the occupation has a decision to execute prisoners, and all those who are martyred after this date are due to killing," Sarahna added.
She adds that they no longer deal with an entity called the "prison management system", but with people who are adept at managing prisons with "lust for revenge".
Source : Al Jazeera