A Bethehlem bodybuilder left broken by Israeli detention has been arrested again
A Palestinian bodybuilder from Bethlehem, left broken and emaciated after spending nine months in Israeli prisons without being charged, has been rearrested.
Muazzaz Abayat, 39, who told Middle East Eye shortly after his release in July that he had been tortured and starved during his detention, was rearrested in the early hours of Thursday morning at his home, according to his father, Khalil Abayat.
Khalil said his son is still very sick and was receiving treatment as a result of his previous imprisonment.
“We don’t know why they took him. He hasn't been doing anything or leaving home. He has only been getting treatment since his last release. They took him and beat him. I have no idea where he is and in what prison. I am helpless,” he told MEE.
“He is very sick. He is in a bad condition, especially in his psychological situation. He hasn't recovered from the time he was imprisoned and abused.”
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Muazzaz, who is a butcher, lost more than half his body weight during his nine-month administrative detention after Israeli forces arrested him in a raid on his home in the occupied West Bank on 26 October 2023.
Speaking to MEE after his release, he said he had been beaten with an iron bar and shackled with iron chains during an interrogation at a military investigation centre near the settlement of Gush Etzion.
Muazzaz said he was repeatedly beaten as he was moved from base to base over the following weeks and was subjected to other forms of abuse, including being placed in a van filled with gas until he passed out.
Eventually, he ended up in a notorious desert prison near Israel’s border with Egypt.
“The moment you arrive there, they take off your clothes. They allow you just a T-shirt and trousers. There are no undergarments. The weather there is freezing. It is especially cold at night,” he said.
Speaking to MEE from his hospital bed in July, Muazzaz said: “I can’t get the prison out of my head and can’t remember. I am still living in the prison. I have the prison inside me.”
In response to MEE’s original story about the allegations of the abuse that Muazzaz said he had suffered, an Israeli Prison Service (IPS) spokesperson said: “We are not aware of the claims you described, and as far as we know, no such events have occurred. As documented in his file, the prisoner was examined and treated medically by IPS' finest doctors throughout his incarceration in accordance with his medical complaints, his prior medical condition and medical protocols.”
Other Palestinian prisoners interviewed by MEE have described similar treatment and conditions in Israeli detention facilities.
Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations have raised concerns about the treatment of thousands of Palestinians arrested and detained since the start of the war in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel last October.
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