The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden administration to address new reports of Israeli rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners and the alleged summary execution of detainees.
Al Jazeera interviewed a Palestinian released from an Israeli detention camp who reported losing 30 percent of his body weight during months of torture and abuse. He said that over a six-month period, he was repeatedly beaten, witnessed the abuse of other prisoners, and was denied food and medical care.
Faraj al-Samouni, 39, said: “We were only allowed to shower once, and they wouldn’t give us food or water for days. They’d give us one loaf of bread for three people, and if you asked for anything, you were beaten.”
He reported that three young men returned from their interrogations “bleeding from their bottoms” and unable to move. They had allegedly been beaten and raped with sticks.
al-Samouni said: “We tried to support them as much as we could, demanding treatment. The only response was to give them half a paracetamol pill.”
He also reported: “I was stripped and tied to a chair with a hole in the bottom. The interrogators tortured us by applying pressure and direct beatings on our sensitive body parts in the extreme cold. I stayed like that for days, defecating in a bucket placed under me…When they brought me back to the cell, I saw prisoners whose skin had melted…burned by hot water poured directly on their bodies.”
In another incident, four Palestinians were reportedly found killed after their release by the Israeli army near the Karm Abu Salem crossing in Gaza. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reported that the men were handcuffed, indicating they were executed.
Yesterday, CAIR condemned what it called the latest “Israeli war crimes of the day,” including a new massacre at a school in Gaza, the killing of journalists and former detainees, and the forced displacement of almost the entire population of Gaza.
Israel has slaughtered more than 38,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“This Israeli government’s ongoing rape and torture of Palestinian detainees is being enabled by the Biden administration’s funding, silence and complicity. Israel’s unconscionable campaign of abuse and torture, which Ben-Gvir has all but admitted, continues because the administration refuses to stop it. Failure to address the Israeli government’s abuses and war crimes has already shattered our nation’s reputation in the international community. Concrete action must be taken to stop the genocide before more damage is done.”
Earlier this month, CAIR called on the Biden administration to take action following new allegations of Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees.
On Friday, CAIR expressed horror in response to viral footage of a young Palestinian girl in Rafah struggling to survive after an Israeli attack blew her jaw blown off.
CAIR also condemned South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham for racist remarks he made about Palestinians on the Fourth of July.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com