Freed Palestinian journalist details torture in Israeli prisons
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Freed journalist Shadi Abu Sido recounts details of how Palestinian prisoners face torture, sexual abuse, and psychological torment inside Israeli occupation prisons.
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Freed journalist Shadi Abu Sido during an interview with Al Mayadeen, which aired on October 18, 2025. (Screengrab)
Freed Palestinian journalist Shadi Abu Sido revealed harrowing details of torture and abuse inside Israeli prisons, describing Palestinian detainees as “hostages without any human rights” in an interview with Al Mayadeen on Saturday.
Abu Sido recounted his personal suffering during his 20 months of detention in Sde Teiman and Ofer prisons, saying the conditions amounted to systematic psychological and physical torture. “We were deprived of sleep for days,” he said, adding that he endured “100 consecutive days of shackling, with both hands and feet bound.”
He recalled moments of psychological torment, saying: “In the cell, the jailer told me that they had killed my family and children and destroyed my home.”
Abu Sido warned that detainees in Israeli prisons “are subjected to sexual assault,” emphasizing that the abuse represents a severe violation of human rights conventions.
Pattern of abuse in Israeli prisons
His account follows similar testimony from another freed Palestinian detainee, Mahmoud al-Arida, who told Al Mayadeen on Friday that prisoners continue to face “inhumane and degrading treatment” under the supervision of Israeli prison authorities.
Al-Arida, one of the architects of 2021's Operation Freedom Tunnel, confirmed that Israeli occupation officials, including far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have personally inspected prisons such as al-Naqab, demanding harsher measures against detainees.
Al-Arida, in an interview for Al Mayadeen, detailed the severe abuse and torture Palestinian detainees face in Israeli prisons, recounted breaking out of Gilboa Prison along with his comrades under Operation Freedom Tunnel, and made a powerful call for solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Al-Arida confirmed that all means of communication were completely cut off and that the detainees involved in Operation Freedom Tunnel - the 2021 prison break from Gilboa Prison - were isolated from the other detainees to prevent any information from getting out.
In his interview for Al Mayadeen, al-Arida said that during a previous detainee exchange deal, Israeli authorities had informed him he would be freed, but instead, he was taken out and beaten, only to find out that none of it was true.
