Ex-detainees describe hard time in “Israeli” prisons

Two ex-detainees shared their experiences at student-sponsored presentations at the Lebanese American University on Monday, comparing their time at “Israel’s” Ashkelon Prison and the Khiam detention center.
Both Nabih Awada and Afif Hammoud were detained in 1988 and released in 1998, but their 10 years of detention differed considerably.
Awada, 16 at the time, was arrested after an operation against “Israeli” forces near Marjayoun, and was subjected to many interrogations before his transfer to Ashkelon.
Hammoud, who was then 22, was arrested in Khiam after being detained and interrogated over 21 times.
“After enduring various methods of torture during interrogation sessions, I was taken to Metulla settlement (in “Israel”) for medical examination,” Awada told the audience.
He was then transferred to Beir Sabaa Prison in “Israel”, where he said torture methods were more psychological than physical.
“The “Israelis” used to deny us sleep by banging on the prison doors several times throughout the night.”
He said interrogation sessions used to concentrate on questions that he could not answer.
“They asked me to explain why Hamra Street is famous, and wanted me to interpret Lebanese proverbs,” he said.
“Sometimes, I tricked them and told false stories, pretending I couldn’t tolerate further torture,” he added.
Awada was sentenced to 15 years in prison and, upon reaching 18 years old, was transferred to Ashkelon, where he spent eight years with sentenced Palestinians and Lebanese detainees. While there, the administration did not interrogate the detainees.
“Prison life there was different,” he said.
There was a committee for the detainees headed by one detainee who represented the group before the prison’s administration.
“Although our demands took about a year to be approved,” he said, “we secured a few of them, like watching television and reading newspapers.”
Awada learned to speak and read Hebrew from his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
Hammoud recounted the experience of his years in Khiam.
“More dangerous than the interrogator was the prison agent,” he said. Prison agents are detainees used to draw out information from detainees.
They take information from interrogators, pretending to know the detainee’s village and people to win their confidence in an effort to obtain details of any activities against the occupation.
“Their duty is to get information from the detainee and to accuse him of doing something,” Hammoud said.
He described the torture methods he was subjected to, such as electric shocks and being doused in cold and hot water.
“The “Israelis”, and particularly “Israeli”-allied SLA members, used to tie us to a pole and beat us,” he said, mentioning that one of his colleagues died on the pole.
He said that during prolonged interrogations lasting several hours, SLA members would threaten to arrest the detainees’ mothers, sisters and loved ones.
“They arrested my mother for three months and would make me hear her voice from time to time (from an adjacent room) to psychologically torture me,” Hammoud said.
He recalled the only way SLA members granted detainees’ parents access to see their detained children was through bribes.
“Our parents used to have to bring … valuable gifts in exchange for seeing their son or daughter for a few minutes,” he said.
Hammoud recounted one incident in 1987 in which SLA members took a newborn baby into their custody.
“Mohammed Ahmad, 7 days old, was arrested with his mother when SLA members couldn’t find his father,” he said.
His father, Omar Ahmad, turned himself over to the SLA, but his wife and son remained imprisoned for another five months as a tool to force him to confess.

The Daily Star, 29-5-2001.