Israel’s torture dungeons through the eyes of Murshid Al-Shawamreh

Murshid Al-Shawamreh, 26, after he was released from prison, September 2024

In February 2023, I met Murshid Al-Shawamreh, 26, a university student and social activist from al-Ram, a suburb of occupied Jerusalem. Shortly after we met, Shawamreh received a phone call from the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service. 

“We will arrest you,” they told him. They did not accuse Al-Shawamreh of committing any crimes, but did instruct him to turn himself in or he would face physical violence. "Come, or we’ll come break your legs," they told him.

Days later, Israeli forces stormed Shawamreh’s home at dawn and arrested his brother, Mansour.

Then, three days later, on March 23, 2023, they came for Murshid. Israeli forces raided his home at dawn, smashed doors and assaulted those inside, including women and children. They abducted Murshid, placing him under “administrative detention” for 18 months. “Administrative detention” refers to Israel’s decades long policy of abducting and imprisoning Palestinians without charge.

When Murshid was brought before a military court, the military prosecutor failed to share any evidence with the military judge as to the reason for Murshid’s abduction. His file was “secret," a phrase repeated in every court session, meaning he was not able to present a legal defense. It was a sham court.

Murshid first found himself at Ofer Prison. After October 7, the prison authorities crammed twelve prisoners into cells that used to hold six, forcing the prisoners to sleep in shifts. The twelve prisoners in Murshid’s cell also shared a single jacket, forcing them to take turns every two hours in the freezing cold. But Murshid was among the lucky ones – the entire block of two hundred prisoners were given just five jackets to share.

Food was extremely scarce. Murshid lost 40 kilograms in prison. During Jewish holidays, meals consisted of one potato and a calorie-free biscuit.

Murshid told me that water was available for only one hour a day and prisoners were not allowed to store water in bottles. Thus, for more than twenty-three hours a day, prisoners had no access to water.

Showers were allowed every two days, but there were no hygiene products; no razors, shampoo, not even nail clippers, so prisoners clipped their nails against the cell walls.

The overcrowding, deprivation of water, lack of hygiene products, and malnutrition led to widespread illness—especially skin diseases and scabies. When Murshid, 26, showed me pictures of his skin after he was released, I was in shock. His body was covered with scabs and his hands looked like they'd aged fifty years in eighteen months. Murshid contracted scabies and became dependent on others to walk or get up. Six out of Murshid’s twelve inmates became completely immobile.

The hands of Murshid Al-Shawamreh, 26, after he was released from Israeli prison in September 2024.

Once, when Murshid requested pain relief medication, a soldier told him, “just die.” Then, as punishment, a dozen more soldiers tied him up and beat him until he fainted. Murshid was left with broken ribs, unable to move for a month.

But Murshid was one of the lucky ones. His cellmate, Muhammad Munir Musa, was not so lucky. Murshid was transferred to Ramon Prison, Section 6 on the "Bosta," or the prison transfer van, nicknamed "the journey of torment."

At Ramon, he met Muhammad Munir, who was imprisoned in April 2023 without any chronic health issues. Munir developed a severe skin infection in prison as a result of scabies which led to dangerous inflammation. He was eventually taken for treatment at Soroka Hospital. He died in October 2024, becoming the 278th Palestinian prisoner murdered by Israel since 1967.

Murshid also told me of how Israeli security forces denied Palestinians the right to practice their religion. During Ramadan, no early morning meal was provided, while the break-the-fast meal, or iftar, was barely enough to survive. Worship became a crime, so prayers were performed in secret by the prisoners. Murshid told me he once saw a seventy-year-old man get caught praying, and ten soldiers attacked him, nearly beating him to death.

Interrogations were purely a matter of emotional and psychological torture. “We’ll arrest your mother, imprison your children,” they told Murshid and other prisoners.

Israel imprisoned the young and the old alike. Murshid told me of another seventy-year-old prisoner he met, jailed for 14 months for writing a Facebook post against the war.

In Murshid’s final days in prison, he couldn’t walk. He was released on September 23, 2024 and taken directly to a hospital, where he spent ten days undergoing treatment before his release home, where he needed to continue receiving treatment.

Today, Murshid lives in freedom, but the hunger, beatings, cold, and torture—those thoughts will haunt him, as does the constant threat of re-arrest. Today, his spirit is still trapped in Israel’s torture dungeons.

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