The Artistic Director of The Freedom Theatre, Nabil Al-Raee, was recently released from Israeli prison on bail. Awaiting the next court hearing at the end of July, Nabil shares his experience of having spent over one month in Israeli detention under intense interrogation.
On July 12 Nabil was released on bail pending a court date at the end of the month, when he will face charges of aiding a “wanted man” – his neighbor Zakaria Zubeidi, who was granted amnesty by the Israeli authorities in 2007.
These are the latest in a series of different charges against Nabil put forward by the Israeli prosecution. Constantly shifting charges and long detentions without access to lawyers is a hallmark of the Israeli occupation and is a fate suffered by the thousands of Palestinians who are detained and imprisoned by Israel. It is also an indication of the extent to which the Israeli government is willing to go in order to repress nonviolent freedom of expression.
Nabil has been able to give testimony of his time in Israeli detention. His report gives evidence of psychological as well as physical abuse.
Among other things Nabil was strapped to a chair for two days after having passed two polygraph tests. After the fourth polygraph test interrogators told Nabil he had passed and that they were letting him go the next day. Nabil believed them but this turned out to be a lie.
The interrogators made countless use of personal information, and made threats about what would happen to Nabil’s daughter Mina if his wife was also arrested.
At one point seven different interrogators came in at the same time demanding answers to seven different questions. All of them showed different attitudes towards Nabil: some were very nice, others angry, some threatening, demanding and so on.
The interrogators admitted that they knew Nabil had nothing to do with Juliano Mer Khamis’ murder but because Nabil is an activist and a theatre artist and thus undermining the occupation with theatre in particular they needed an excuse to arrest him.
The Freedom Theatre is still very concerned about continuing harassment of the theatre. Many of the staff members and students are afraid they may be taken next. This is a particular concern for those who have been called for interrogation recently since this seems to consistently precede an arrest.
Co-founder and supporter of The Freedom Theatre, Zakaria Zubeidi, is still in Palestinian prison. In addition his lawyer, Farid Hawash was recently arrested by Palestinian police after a court hearing, accused of insulting the Palestinian Authority.
On July 12, Farid Hawash was arrested in connection to defending Zakaria in a court hearing. He was released on July 18. He has repeatedly expressed his frustration over how the Palestinian Authority has handled his client’s case, involving numerous violations of Palestinian law.
The Freedom Theatre is very concerned about Zakaria’s welfare and urge all its supporters to continue to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority and demand that they respect Palestinian law. We also encourage those who can to visit Zakaria in Jericho prison.
Numbers to call:
+972(0)599000011 Mahmoud Abbas’ Councelor
+972(0)2000011 Said Abualheja, Ministry of Interior
Contact Us Site Map
