“There were other kids in the waiting room by the courtroom, who came there from the Russian Compound and the police station on Salah a-Din Street. They asked if I’d been interrogated and where. I told them I was interrogated in room 4 rand they said: “Poor thing, God help you, they’ll rip the skin off your bones.” The things they said really scared me.
When I went back to room 4, the interrogation started again immediately. I told the interrogator I was thirsty and hadn’t drunk in the court, either, and asked for water. The interrogator said I was a kid who didn’t deserve water and didn’t give me a drink. He yelled at me and demanded that I confess, and then I remembered what the kids in the waiting room said about room 4, that it was like a slaughterhouse, and I decided to confess to something I hadn’t done – throwing stones.
After I confessed, they took me to another room. They brought me a sandwich with schnitzel, water and a coke. I think it was 3:00 P.M. From there, they took me to the detention facility in the Russian Compound ,and I slept alone in a cell that night. The next day I was joined by detained kids from Silwan, ‘Eissawiyah, Wadi al-Joz and Beit Hanina. They’re all still detained. The cell had two bunk beds and a toilet, and we were seven detainees there, so four slept on a bed and the rest on blankets on the floor, because there weren’t any more mattresses. The food was okay in terms of quantity and quality. I showered every day in the toilet stall in the cell, which had a shower. I stayed in the Russian Compound for two and a half months and throughout that period only saw my family at court hearings.
After two and a half months, I was transferred to Ramla Prison. That day, at around 4:00 P.M., they placed me and six other detainees, all under the age of 18, in a room in the Russian Compound where we waited for the prisoner transport vehicle. Four guards from the Nachshon unit came in and started kicking us for no reason. That went on for a few minutes and then we had our hands tied behind our backs. One of them pulled my tied hand backwards, and another hit me in the back with his elbow.
After half an hour in the waiting room, we were put on a minibus, where they forced us to sit hunched over. One of us fell on the way to the minibus and they kicked and slapped him.
The bus arrived at a prison, where they transferred us to a prisoner transport vehicle that had separate compartments. The guard who took me from the minibus to that vehicle car pressed his finger into my neck and then scratched my neck.
They put us in the vehicle, which took us to Ramla Prison. Inside, they tightened the zip ties on our hands, which were still tied behind our backs. We arrived at the transit wing of Ramla Prison. While they walked us there, the guards punched us in the head several times. When they released our hands from the zip ties, they would release one hand and tie the other hand. I felt like my wrist was going to break.
They put me and five other boys from Jerusalem in a cell that had no detainees in it. When we entered, they untied our hands and then brought each of us an egg and a slice of bread. We drank water from the tap in the restroom in the cell. The guard ordered us to kneel with our hands behind our backs, and said we were forbidden to fall asleep or change positions, or else he’d beat us up. It was already night-time and we were very tired from the entire transfer process, so despite the guard’s threat, we fell asleep and slept on the floor. We didn’t care what happened to us anymore.
At round 4:00 A.M. the guard came to count us and found us sleeping. He grabbed the fingers on one of my hands and started bending them and twisting them. He threatened to break our fingers if we refused to obey and cursed us. He demanded that I say that my father was a collaborator, and I said it because I was afraid he would break my finger.”