Emma Graham-Harrison is the Guardian's chief Middle East correspondent, based in Jerusalem. Quique Kierszenbaum is a Jerusalem based reporter and photographer who has been covering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since the Second Intifada.

Warning: contains graphic descriptions of torture

Palestinian journalist, Sami al-Saei said he heard the Israeli prison guards who raped him laughing through the assault, before they left him lying blindfolded, handcuffed and in agony on the floor.

At least one of the group knew a crime was being committed and intervened, not to stop the torture but to prevent its documentation. Al-Saei said he heard the man warning others “don’t take a photo, don’t take a photo”.

He bled from his rectum for more than three weeks after the assault, which happened soon after he was detained in February 2024. He described extreme sexual torture that lasted more than 20 minutes.

“I tried to prevent them by clenching my muscles, but I could not. They forced it in very deep, it was extremely painful,” he said. “I don’t know how loudly I screamed from the pain.”

It left him in so much pain that he collapsed twice afterwards. al-Saei said he received no medical treatment and was forced to use wads of toilet paper to staunch the blood.

The 47-year-old father of six was held without charge or trial until June 2025. About 40 days after his release, he posted a video on TikTok detailing the attack, defying extreme social stigma and Israeli warnings against going public about abuse in jails.

“I could not stay silent. I have a moral responsibility to say what happened to me and other prisoners,” he said.

In a report released on Tuesday, the human rights group B’Tselem described a “grave pattern of sexual violence in detention facilities and prisons”.

It ranges from “threats of sexual assault, through forced stripping, to actual sexual assaults”, the report found. “These include beatings to the genitals that caused severe injuries, setting dogs on prisoners, and forced anal penetration with various objects.”

Torture of Palestinian prisoners must be understood in the context of dehumanisation and a broader campaign of extreme violence, said B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak. “The Israeli regime has turned its prisons into a network of torture camps for Palestinians, as part of a coordinated onslaught on Palestinian society intended to destroy their existence as a collective,” she said.

Beyond Israel there had been condemnations of torture but no effective intervention, she added. “The international community continues to grant this regime full immunity.” Al-Saei has paid a high price for speaking out. Forced to move away from gossiping neighbours, he has struggled to find work and is haunted by vivid nightmares about his children’s future.

But he does not regret his decision to become a voice for those who cannot face adding new pain to deep trauma. “It was my choice,” he said, adding that during 16 months in jail he saw clear evidence that many other prisoners had been assaulted. “Even if the others didn’t speak about it, it was obvious they also had this experience.”

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Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd