Abbas Fawaz Na’ora
18 February 1998
Abbas Fawaz Na’ora
ABBAS FAWAZ NA’ORA INFORMATION SHEET
SUMMARY: Detained 2/18/98 at a military check point while on his way (in a school bus) to register at a vocational school in El Bireh. His family was never officially notified by the Israelis of his detainment. The other children on the bus reported the detention to his family and his father contacted the American Consulate General. The father says that the Consulate claimed that they could do nothing. The boy was almost sixteen when arrested.
At the time of his arrest Abbas was living with his family in Ramallah. His father, Fawaz Na’ora, told me he has seven children (six boys and one daughter, the youngest). His first five sons are all in the United States, and all five were at one time or another detained and tortured by the Israelis. The father expressed great grief that his youngest son is now jailed. He wants to get him out and leave the country. Mr. Na’ora had a business in Georgia which he sold but he regards Georgia as his home state. Mr. Na’ora says that he has an Israeli ID card, as do members of his family. He owns at least three houses and some land (in Deir Dibwan, near El Bireh).
The father reports that his son says that he was taken to the Moscobiya prison in Jerusalem where he was put in “Zenadeen” and during interrogation was kicked in the “balls.” He has signed some paper and was then sent to Megiddo prison, near Haifa. He had not been sentenced as of April 1999.
The attorney was trying for “a deal.” He was said to be close to a “30-month deal.”
He spent time in a total isolation cell.
UPDATE: Sentenced to 30 months on charges of belonging to Hamas and on the basis of “a confession.” He has not been accused of injuring anyone.
Translation of Affidavit of Abbas Fawaz Na’ora
1. I am a prisoner in Megiddo prison sentenced to 30 months.
2. I was arrested on 18 Feb. 1998 at a checkpoint on my way to school.
3. I was sentenced on the basis of my confession which I gave against my will and under torture, re: membership in
the Hamas organization, throwing rocks in 1994, activities in Hamas – all this when I was 14 years old.
4. I was under interrogation for about 45 days in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem.
5. I was interrogated with cruelty by the Israeli interrogators of the General Security Services.
6. In the first two days of my interrogations, I was seated in a small chair, my hands tied behind my back, in tight
handcuffs to the chair which caused my hands to swell. The position in which I was tied to the chair for 48 hours
continuously, was very painful and I suffered a lot in this chair. This position is known as “Shabeh”. During the
Shabeh, I was prevented from sleeping – totaling 48 hours.
7. On Friday and Saturday I was transferred to a cell with collaborators.
8. On Sunday, the round of torture and abuse by the Shabak interrogators began. They returned me to the Shabah and an interrogator named Captain Omri began kicking me brutally in my testicles. I cried from the pain. The pain made me feel that I was going to die. Afterwards, they left me in the Shabeh for a few hours, but my condition worsened from the beating, and they returned me to the cell. In the cell I couldn’t sleep, stand – I was in so much pain.
9. On Monday, I confessed to all that they wanted in order to put an end to my suffering.
10. Afterwards, for about a month and two days, they took me periodically to sit in Shabeh and they left me there.
11. In the first two days of my interrogation, they put me in the “closet” – in a room a meter wide and about 2
meters high. In the closet, that is where I sat in Shabeh. In addition to this, they sat me in front of a running air-conditioner right in front of my face – that was on the entire time. They didn’t take me out of the closet during the entire 48 hours – even to use the bathroom. I was very afraid and I thought that I would die. In the closet they covered my head with a thick and rancid sack and they blared loud music the entire time. The weather was very cold. I was freezing. They took off my jacket and my shirt and I sat in the closet subjected to this cold for 48 hours
in a t-shirt.
12. After about a week of interrogation, and after I confessed, a representative from the American consulate visited me. I don’t remember his name, but Majed, from the consulate in Jerusalem was the translator. The man from the consul was tall, with white hair and he was middle-aged. I sat with him for ten minutes. He asked me what I confessed to. He asked me if I was tortured. I was afraid of him and I told him that I didn’t confess and that I wasn’t tortured.
13. After this visit, the representative and the translator Majed visited me about four times. In one of these visits, I told him, after he asked me, the details of my confession.
14. In one of these visits, maybe the second, I don’t remember exactly, I told the representative about the torture that I went through in the closet. I don’t remember how he reacted and/or what he said to me. I didn’t tell him that they kicked me in my testicles because I thought he would tell my father, and I didn’t want to worry my father.
15. In all his visits to me in the Russian Compound – during my interrogation, the representative did not bring me any reading material. In the last visit, after a month, the representative brought me underwear. He didn’t help me with my family to visit. In all his visits, he did not offer to help and [or] ease my situation.
16. The representative took an affidavit from me which described in detail my confession and also indicated that I
was seated in Shabeh.
17. The representative asked me if I wanted him to send this affidavit to the press and to the US Congress – I was
afraid and did not overcome my suspicions regarding the representative – and it wasn’t clear to me whether this
would cause me harm and that the Shabak would take revenge or that the representative from the consul was
cooperating with the Shabak. Therefore, I said to him that I did not want it to be publicized.
18. The first visit by an attorney was permitted [after] about two weeks of interrogation.
19. I was not allowed to receive family visits, no interrogee is allowed, and the first time that I saw my family was in the remand hearing after about 40 days of detention.
20. After my interrogation ended, I was transferred to the Megiddo military prison. The Consul representative
visits me in Megiddo every month and brings me reading material.
21. Five months after I was transferred to Megiddo, I saw the charges against me. I was sentenced sixteen months
after the date of my arrest.
22. The only time I saw a doctor under interrogation was the first day when I first arrived at the Russian compound.
23. After I told the representative about the torture, he said that he would speak to the head of the interrogation staff so that they would end the Shabeh. I don’t know if he submitted a complaint and [or] spoke to the Shabak. The interrogators never said anything to me.
24. After about two weeks in interrogation, I was held in isolation in a very small cell for about 35 days until I was
transferred to Megiddo. I was not provided with any reading material, television and had nobody to talk to. In the
isolation cell, there was no running water and I had to request from the warden to bring me water. Once the warden refused and I insisted that I receive water and he came in and beat me.
25. I think that the consulate representative helped my family get a permit to visit me in Megiddo.
26. I ask that everyone who is able, especially American citizens, to help me and put an end to my suffering.
27. This affidavit was translated from Arabic by A. Pacheco, Adv.
28. This is my name and my signature and the content of my affidavit is true and correct.
18 February 1998
Abbas Fawaz Na’ora
ABBAS FAWAZ NA’ORA INFORMATION SHEET
SUMMARY: Detained 2/18/98 at a military check point while on his way (in a school bus) to register at a vocational school in El Bireh. His family was never officially notified by the Israelis of his detainment. The other children on the bus reported the detention to his family and his father contacted the American Consulate General. The father says that the Consulate claimed that they could do nothing. The boy was almost sixteen when arrested.
At the time of his arrest Abbas was living with his family in Ramallah. His father, Fawaz Na’ora, told me he has seven children (six boys and one daughter, the youngest). His first five sons are all in the United States, and all five were at one time or another detained and tortured by the Israelis. The father expressed great grief that his youngest son is now jailed. He wants to get him out and leave the country. Mr. Na’ora had a business in Georgia which he sold but he regards Georgia as his home state. Mr. Na’ora says that he has an Israeli ID card, as do members of his family. He owns at least three houses and some land (in Deir Dibwan, near El Bireh).
The father reports that his son says that he was taken to the Moscobiya prison in Jerusalem where he was put in “Zenadeen” and during interrogation was kicked in the “balls.” He has signed some paper and was then sent to Megiddo prison, near Haifa. He had not been sentenced as of April 1999.
The attorney was trying for “a deal.” He was said to be close to a “30-month deal.”
He spent time in a total isolation cell.
UPDATE: Sentenced to 30 months on charges of belonging to Hamas and on the basis of “a confession.” He has not been accused of injuring anyone.
Translation of Affidavit of Abbas Fawaz Na’ora
1. I am a prisoner in Megiddo prison sentenced to 30 months.
2. I was arrested on 18 Feb. 1998 at a checkpoint on my way to school.
3. I was sentenced on the basis of my confession which I gave against my will and under torture, re: membership in
the Hamas organization, throwing rocks in 1994, activities in Hamas – all this when I was 14 years old.
4. I was under interrogation for about 45 days in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem.
5. I was interrogated with cruelty by the Israeli interrogators of the General Security Services.
6. In the first two days of my interrogations, I was seated in a small chair, my hands tied behind my back, in tight
handcuffs to the chair which caused my hands to swell. The position in which I was tied to the chair for 48 hours
continuously, was very painful and I suffered a lot in this chair. This position is known as “Shabeh”. During the
Shabeh, I was prevented from sleeping – totaling 48 hours.
7. On Friday and Saturday I was transferred to a cell with collaborators.
8. On Sunday, the round of torture and abuse by the Shabak interrogators began. They returned me to the Shabah and an interrogator named Captain Omri began kicking me brutally in my testicles. I cried from the pain. The pain made me feel that I was going to die. Afterwards, they left me in the Shabeh for a few hours, but my condition worsened from the beating, and they returned me to the cell. In the cell I couldn’t sleep, stand – I was in so much pain.
9. On Monday, I confessed to all that they wanted in order to put an end to my suffering.
10. Afterwards, for about a month and two days, they took me periodically to sit in Shabeh and they left me there.
11. In the first two days of my interrogation, they put me in the “closet” – in a room a meter wide and about 2
meters high. In the closet, that is where I sat in Shabeh. In addition to this, they sat me in front of a running air-conditioner right in front of my face – that was on the entire time. They didn’t take me out of the closet during the entire 48 hours – even to use the bathroom. I was very afraid and I thought that I would die. In the closet they covered my head with a thick and rancid sack and they blared loud music the entire time. The weather was very cold. I was freezing. They took off my jacket and my shirt and I sat in the closet subjected to this cold for 48 hours
in a t-shirt.
12. After about a week of interrogation, and after I confessed, a representative from the American consulate visited me. I don’t remember his name, but Majed, from the consulate in Jerusalem was the translator. The man from the consul was tall, with white hair and he was middle-aged. I sat with him for ten minutes. He asked me what I confessed to. He asked me if I was tortured. I was afraid of him and I told him that I didn’t confess and that I wasn’t tortured.
13. After this visit, the representative and the translator Majed visited me about four times. In one of these visits, I told him, after he asked me, the details of my confession.
14. In one of these visits, maybe the second, I don’t remember exactly, I told the representative about the torture that I went through in the closet. I don’t remember how he reacted and/or what he said to me. I didn’t tell him that they kicked me in my testicles because I thought he would tell my father, and I didn’t want to worry my father.
15. In all his visits to me in the Russian Compound – during my interrogation, the representative did not bring me any reading material. In the last visit, after a month, the representative brought me underwear. He didn’t help me with my family to visit. In all his visits, he did not offer to help and [or] ease my situation.
16. The representative took an affidavit from me which described in detail my confession and also indicated that I
was seated in Shabeh.
17. The representative asked me if I wanted him to send this affidavit to the press and to the US Congress – I was
afraid and did not overcome my suspicions regarding the representative – and it wasn’t clear to me whether this
would cause me harm and that the Shabak would take revenge or that the representative from the consul was
cooperating with the Shabak. Therefore, I said to him that I did not want it to be publicized.
18. The first visit by an attorney was permitted [after] about two weeks of interrogation.
19. I was not allowed to receive family visits, no interrogee is allowed, and the first time that I saw my family was in the remand hearing after about 40 days of detention.
20. After my interrogation ended, I was transferred to the Megiddo military prison. The Consul representative
visits me in Megiddo every month and brings me reading material.
21. Five months after I was transferred to Megiddo, I saw the charges against me. I was sentenced sixteen months
after the date of my arrest.
22. The only time I saw a doctor under interrogation was the first day when I first arrived at the Russian compound.
23. After I told the representative about the torture, he said that he would speak to the head of the interrogation staff so that they would end the Shabeh. I don’t know if he submitted a complaint and [or] spoke to the Shabak. The interrogators never said anything to me.
24. After about two weeks in interrogation, I was held in isolation in a very small cell for about 35 days until I was
transferred to Megiddo. I was not provided with any reading material, television and had nobody to talk to. In the
isolation cell, there was no running water and I had to request from the warden to bring me water. Once the warden refused and I insisted that I receive water and he came in and beat me.
25. I think that the consulate representative helped my family get a permit to visit me in Megiddo.
26. I ask that everyone who is able, especially American citizens, to help me and put an end to my suffering.
27. This affidavit was translated from Arabic by A. Pacheco, Adv.
28. This is my name and my signature and the content of my affidavit is true and correct.
