Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Al-Najjar, a Palestinian refugee from Al-Fuwwar camp near al-Khalil, announced his boycott of the Israeli military courts on Friday, 2 December, after a six-month administrative detention order for his imprisonment without charge or trial was issued against him.
Al-Najjar, 32, was arrested on 27 November in a violent pre-dawn raid on his home by Israeli occupation forces. As he was seized by occupation forces, he was severely beaten on his side and face. A former prisoner, Al-Najjar has been arrested eight times and spent a total of six years in Israeli prisons, including a number of periods in administrative detention. In 2014, he spent nine months in administrative detention in the Negev desert prison. He is married and the father of two children and is president of the Youth Assembly to Support the Prisoners in the West Bank.
Palestinian lawyer Louay Akkeh visited al-Najjar on Thursday, 1 December in Ofer prison, noting that he had been subject to brutality at the hands of occupation forces. Heavily armed soldiers broke down the door of al-Najjar’s home, confiscated all electronic devices in the home, and then beat al-Najjar with a gun, leaving severe bruises and visible injuries. He was blindfolded and marched toward the Haggai settlement, denied medical treatment, and held without food or drink for the next day at the settlement. He was then transferred to Etzion military base, where he was forced to undress and don a dirty blue uniform. He was held handcuffed and denied food, drink, or access to the toilet for 12 hours. After only one and one-half hours of interrogation, he was transferred to Ofer prison and then ordered to administrative detention, Akkeh reported.
Al-Najjar is one of approximately 700 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, and 7,000 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons.
