Serious allegations of violence and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners by the Israel Prison Service have come to light recently after prosecutors filed an unusual case against 12 guards over the death of Thaer Abu Asab, almost three years after he died, according to an Israeli media report.
The report said Abu Asab was serving a 25-year sentence over attacks on Israel when he died in November 2023 following a severe beating at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel. The guards involved remained silent about what happened for almost three years, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The guard responded: “Better not ask.”, according to one of his cellmates. The incident reportedly began with a question from Abu Asab. He had asked a guard if Israel and the Palestinians had reached a cease-fire agreement.
The question was later brought to the attention of a Prison Service officer identified in the report only as “the commander”. The report said that the officer chose to respond through violence. Guards were also heard shouting about the cease-fire question as they left, according to the prisoners. They said Abu Asab suffered the worst beating and never got back on his feet. The report said a female guard sent a message to her partner, who was also a guard, while Abu Asab was in the prison clinic and close to death: “They’re doing CPR in the clinic right now, baby.”
A court order has barred the publication of the names of all the defendants.
In one message mentioned in the investigation, she wrote about prisoners who had recently arrived: “We got so tired of beating them, the commander took off his belt and beat the s*** out of them.”
