Archiv: Folter / torture


31.05.2026 - 17:01 [ New Jersey Monitor ]

Newark migrant jail detainees launch hunger, labor strike over conditions behind bars

(May 22, 2026)

NEWARK — Roughly 300 people detained at migrant jail Delaney Hall began a hunger and labor strike to bring attention to what they call the detrimental conditions and treatment they say they face behind bars.

For two hours near a tent outside the Doremus Avenue detention center Friday morning, people shared their stories of loved ones who are detained inside. Gabriela Soto translated calls from prisoners, including one from her husband, Martin, who has been held there since February.

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Shortly after their calls with advocates, guards cut access to phones and tablets inside.

31.05.2026 - 16:42 [ LaHuelga.com ]

S.O.S: A Second Letter From Delaney Hall

(May 12, 2026)

We feel vulnerable and, in a way, kidnapped —detained without justification— not to mention that we are being tortured physically and psychologically due to the poor food resources provided in these detention centers. We see with deep helplessness and frustration that our due process, rights, and defense have been violated, disregarding benefits granted under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments of the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Families are being destroyed and separated, where there are children, nieces, and minors who are suffering a very strong psychological impact because they do not understand the situation, and in some cases they have witnessed the arrests of their relatives, who have been struck by tragedy and the economic burden, since in most cases we are heads of household.

30.05.2026 - 17:50 [ American Prospect ]

The Miller Doctrine

(May 27, 2026)

Yet proposals that skirt the edges of international law didn’t come out of nowhere. The U.S. under George W. Bush created legal mechanisms following the September 11th attacks to torture hundreds of people in CIA black sites and then at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration’s targeted drone strikes were assassinations by another name. The Biden administration further eroded international norms and subverted its own policies by financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in violation of the Leahy Law, which prohibits foreign military assistance to nations that violate human rights.

“Seems like Miller is sort of taking what he was already willing to do during the first term and then combining that with what Israel has been doing in the way it has just been completely ignoring any kind of international law, Geneva Conventions, any of it in its conduct in Gaza and Lebanon, to then influence U.S. foreign policy,” Annelle Sheline, a research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in an interview.

In other words, Miller and the Trump administration have been able to steamroll what was left of international law; they just had to figure out how to do it.

27.05.2026 - 18:23 [ Common Dreams ]

Global Sumud Flotilla Urges Probe of US Complicity in Members’ Abduction and Torture by Israel

That vessel, the amphibious landing ship INS Nahshon, was built by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Louisiana and was fully financed by the US government. GSF activists first became aware of what they now call the “torture boat” when it was used to detain members of the previous Gaza-bound flotilla, dozens of whom required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces.

This time, according to GSF, “detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”

25.05.2026 - 12:10 [ Global Sumud Flotilla ]

Global Sumud Flotilla Releases Horrific, Newly Emerging Testimonies as Survivors Return Home

May 24, 2026 INTERNATIONAL – As civilian participants from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) begin landing in their respective home countries and some continue their recovery in Istanbul, the full, devastating scale of the violence executed by the israeli Occupation Forces (iOF) is being laid bare. Following the most recent unlawful interception of the flotilla in international waters on 18 May, newly emerging and harrowing testimonies confirm a coordinated campaign of systematic torture, severe physical and psychological trauma, and targeted gender-based and sexual violence.

(The violence reported in this release covers only the second of two illegal israeli interceptions that took place during the Spring 2026 flotilla mission; the first attack took place on 29 April off the coast of Crete, which also had numerous reports of sexual violence, rape and physical injuries including 35 people requiring medical care for broken noses, ribs and injuries from rubber bullets deployed by it iOF.)

25.05.2026 - 12:00 [ Global Sumud Flotilla ]

Global Sumud Flotilla Volunteers Recount Abuse on ‘Torture Boat’

(May 22, 2026)

In what is believed to be the US-built-and-funded INS Nahshon, detainees were “processed” one by one, and taken into darkened containers where groups of iOF commandos brutalised them one by one. Yassine Benjelloun, who had sailed on a previous flotilla mission and expected comparable treatment, described the moment of entry:

„He throws me in a container that is dark, and all of a sudden, I hear, “Welcome to israel. ” And I start getting hit, like first hit on the head, second hit in the ribs, then I fall, then they kick me. And I‘m hearing people screaming, and all of a sudden people stop screaming, and I don‘t see anything, and I don‘t know what‘s going to happen. “ — Yassine Benjelloun

Adrien Berthel, France, described being singled out for targeted humiliation and beating after iOF soldiers noticed he was wearing nail polish and made assumptions about his sexuality.

Veronica Otero, participant number 22 to board, witnessed the processing of nearly all 180 detainees across three days:

„I can say that all were in many ways abused, not one single person walking with nothing. Among them there were 36 fractures, many broken ribs, torso, shoulders, and back. People were in agony. People were not breathing [due to the broken ribs]. „— Veronica Otero

At least 12 sexual assaults have been documented on that vessel alone, including anal rape and forcible penetration by a handgun. iOF soldiers tased volunteers in the face, neck and body, the strikes multiplying with each new group brought in. Multiple volunteers report being photographed during strip searches and guards laughing throughout.

22.05.2026 - 13:50 [ Ounka / X ]

A Global Sumud Flotilla participant just testified from the depths of an Israeli detention center

„I was illegally kidnapped by Israel – like 425 other people.“

„Handcuffs on my hands and feet. Dragged me. When I couldn‘t walk, they dragged me on the ground.“

„They hit us. Hurt all of us a lot. Handcuffs so tight my hands lost feeling.“

„They laughed all the time. Super sadistic.“

„Took off my shirt. Took pictures. Mistreated us all night long.“

Then she delivered her message to the world:

„Shame on you. Shame on all of you. Shame on every government that keeps trading with Israel. My government is complicit. Europe is complicit. The whole world is complicit.“

22.05.2026 - 13:47 [ Thiago Ávila / X ]

Warning: distressful content!

Those genocidal maniacs RAPED humanitarian activist trying to take food and medicine to children in Gaza! And the worst is that even this they escalate to much worse forms with the 9000 Palestinians in israeli dungeons (almost 400 children)!

22.05.2026 - 13:36 [ PalMedia / X ]

Global Sumud Flotilla activist Juliet Lamont describes severe abuse by Israel: “I was tied with cables, water tortured, and sexually assaulted. People had broken ribs, were tased in the face, and injected with unknown sedatives.”

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22.05.2026 - 13:15 [ Furkan Gözükara / Youtube ]

Terrifying revelation. A Global Sumud Flotilla captain shows his back completely covered in massive bruises from Israeli forces.

He confirms the horrific reality that Arabic and non-white captives were beaten much worse.

22.05.2026 - 13:06 [ The Resonance / X ]

The Sumud Flotilla activists, kidnapped in international waters, have been hospitalized after being brutally tortured by Israeli forces.

(…)

22.05.2026 - 13:06 [ NBC News / Youtube ]

Deported Gaza flotilla activists allege abuse while detained in Israel

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13.05.2026 - 04:17 [ Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) ]

CAIR Says Congress, Trump Admin Must Act After New NYT Revelations of Israel’s Widespread Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Congress and the Trump administration to take immediate action after a New York Times report detailed horrifying allegations of widespread sexual abuse, rape, torture, and humiliation of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities.

13.05.2026 - 04:07 [ Nicholas Kristof / X ]

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you‘ll do so.

(May 11, 2026)

I‘ve spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured — they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews — but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they‘re equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here‘s a gift link to the article:

13.05.2026 - 04:01 [ Truthout.org ]

Israeli Officials Denounce NYT Report on Systemic Sexual Abuse of Palestinians

The article in question, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” by Nicholas Kristof, recounts the stories of 14 Palestinians who experienced sexual violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers. A majority of the interviews discuss sexual violence inflicted by soldiers and interrogators on Palestinians in Israeli detention, but others speak of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank — attacks that are “increasingly protect[ed]” by the Israeli military, according to Kristof. The interviews are reinforced by testimony from Israeli and international human rights organizations, and demonstrate that sexual violence is systemic, used on a daily basis against Palestinians, and effectively Israeli state policy.

12.05.2026 - 09:05 [ Nicholas Kristof / New York Times ]

The Horror of Sexual Assault in Israeli Prisons

(transcript)

I’m appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit. The United States has leverage, and we could use it to insist on an end to the impunity and to demand that Red Cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here’s one thing we should be able to agree on: We’re anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day after day.

12.05.2026 - 08:59 [ New York Times ]

The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians

It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.

Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, condemned that sexual violence, and Netanyahu rightly called on “all civilized leaders” to “speak up.”

And yet in wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.

13.01.2026 - 18:53 [ Associated Press ]

Torture still scars Iranians 40 years after revolution

(February 6, 2019)

Torture became widespread, as shown in the museum’s exhibits. Interrogators all wear ties, a nod to their Western connections. Portraits of the shah, Queen Farah and his son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who now lives in exile in the U.S., hang above one torture scene

(…)

Sheikhi walked with Associated Press journalists through the prison that once held him, built in the 1930s by German engineers. Black-and-white photographs of its 8,500 prisoners from over the years line the walls. They include current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Sheikhi, then 19, spent about three months in the prison and 11 months in another after being detained for distributing anti-shah statements from Khomeini, then in exile.

…

13.01.2026 - 18:48 [ The Grayzone / Youtube ]

Inside Iran‘s Savak torture museum

May 17, 2025 #TheGrayzone

Caution: This report contains depictions of simulated violence that may upset some viewers.

Max Blumenthal tours one of the most disturbing museums on the planet.

Set in Tehran‘s former Ebrat Prison run by the anti-sabotage unit of Shah Reza Pahlavi‘s Savak intelligence services, the museum is filled with shockingly graphic exhibits featuring lifelike mannequins recreating the hideous torture tactics deployed to repress dissidents rebelling against Iran‘s monarchy.

Many mannequins on display represent notorious torturers who either fled or were executed after the Islamic revolution in 1979, while others are modeled after famous prisoners locked away in Ebrat like the current Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.

13.01.2026 - 18:22 [ Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung ]

16. Januar 1979: Sturz und Flucht des iranischen Schahs

Noch Anfang der 1950er-Jahre wurde Iran wirtschaftlich von Großbritannien ausgebeutet. Nur ein kleiner Teil der enormen Öleinnahmen verblieb im Land. Teherans Opposition, die in weiten Teilen eine Verstaatlichung der Erdölindustrie forderte, gewann an Zulauf. Die Nationale Front aus verschiedenen linken, islamistischen, aber auch liberalen Gruppen einte damals die Ablehnung des Schahs und ausländischer Einflussnahme. Nach der Ermordung des vom Schah installierten Premierministers Ali Razmara durch Islamisten leitete eine Parlamentskommission im März 1951 die Verstaatlichung der iranischen Ölindustrie ein. Ende April 1951 ernannte der Schah den Führer der Nationalen Front, Mohammed Mossadegh (1882-1967), zum Premierminister.

Unter Mossadegh schritt die Verstaatlichung der Ölindustrie schnell voran. Nachdem die Briten fast 50 Jahre lang quasi ein Monopol auf iranisches Erdöl innehatten, mussten sie es nun aus der Hand geben. London setzte daraufhin einen Boykott Irans durch fast alle internationalen Ölgesellschaften durch. Die Folge war eine schwere Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise. Dies änderte zunächst nichts an der Unterstützung Mossadeghs innerhalb der Bevölkerung. Mossadegh erhielt Sondervollmachten durch das Parlament. Nach einem gescheiterten Versuch Rezas, Mossadegh seines Amtes zu entheben, und den darauf folgenden Kämpfen zwischen den beiden Lagern floh der Schah ins Ausland.

Im August 1953 wurde Mossadegh von Teilen der iranischen Armee mit Hilfe des US-amerikanischen Geheimdienstes CIA gestürzt. Der Schah kehrte aus dem Exil zurück. Fortan war Iran ein treuer Verbündeter der Vereinigten Staaten. Der Monarch unterdrückte jede Opposition mit Härte. Ab 1954 teilte sich ein Konsortium westlicher Ölkonzerne die Gewinne aus dem Erdölgeschäft mit der National Iranian Oil Company. Von den Öleinnahmen profitierte jedoch nur ein kleiner Teil der Bevölkerung.

Washington unterstützte den Schah in den 1950er-Jahren bei der Modernisierung seiner Streitkräfte und ab 1957 beim Aufbau des gefürchteten Geheimdiensts SAVAK.

13.01.2026 - 17:36 [ PressTV.ir ]

Behind the riots: Israel-Pahlavi nexus and the delusion of ‘regime change’ in Iran

The alliance between Iran’s former monarchists and the Israeli regime – actors united by shared interests – gained further momentum after Pahlavi and his spouse visited the Israeli-occupied territories in April 2024 at the invitation of Netanyahu himself.

The visit marked the formalization of what had long been an informal and deeply troubling relationship.

This relationship was further solidified after the Tel Aviv regime launched an unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Iran in June this year, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 1,000 people, including women and children.

While the Iranian nation mourned its dead, Pahlavi monarchists openly celebrated. Reza Pahlavi offered no words of sympathy for the victims of the 12-day war, laying bare where his loyalties truly lie.

17.12.2025 - 06:12 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

„Willkommen in der Hölle“

Im Bericht werden einige der in Israel teils seit Jahrzehnten gängigen Folterpraktiken aufgezählt: die Opfer werden oft tage- oder wochenlanger Isolationshaft ausgesetzt, sie werden in käfigähnlichen Einrichtungen festgehalten, über längere Zeit nackt ausgezogen und müssen Windeln tragen. Zudem werden ihre Augen verbunden und der Entzug von Nahrung, Wasser, Schlaf und medizinischer Behandlung sind an der Tagesordnung. Hinzukommt Folter mit elektrischen Schocks, dem Verbrennen mit Zigaretten, mit Waterboarding (simuliertem Ertrinken) und dem Aufhängen an den Händen oder Füßen an der Decke. Die Rede ist außerdem von Hunden, die auf Gefangene losgelassen wurden – und immer wieder auch von sexueller und geschlechtsspezifischer Gewalt. Inzwischen existieren mehrere Berichte, dass Hunde für die sexuelle Folter Gefangener eingesetzt wurden.[4] Anlässlich der Veröffentlichung des Berichts sprach der UN-Menschenrechtsbauftragte Volker Türk, der zugleich auch die palästinensische Autonomiebehörde wegen willkürlicher Verhaftungen, Folter und Misshandlungen kritisierte und bewaffnete palästinensische Gruppen wegen des 7.Oktober verurteilte, von eklatanten Verletzungen der internationalen Menschenrechtsnormen und des humanitären Völkerrechts seitens Israel.

10.12.2025 - 06:50 [ Al Jazeera ]

WATCH: Palestinian teen says he was tortured in settler kidnapping

Palestinian teenager Oweis Hemam says he was kidnapped and tortured by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Watch the 18-year-old’s account below.

10.12.2025 - 06:49 [ Times of Israel ]

IDF probing reservists who allegedly beat Palestinian teen, causing ‘disturbing’ injuries

(December 6, 2025)

A military source claimed that Hamam was suffering from a mental illness.

Soldiers of the IDF’s so-called area defense forces, known by its Hebrew acronym Hagmar — made up of local settlers in reserve duty — who were already in the area, alongside Sde Ephraim’s security coordinator, called on the man to leave, the army said.

According to the military, the reservist soldiers fired in the air, but the suspect continued to approach them. “The reserve soldiers struggled with the suspect physically until they were able to arrest him,” the IDF said.

20.11.2025 - 17:15 [ Middle East Eye ]

Dick Cheney may be gone, but the wars he waged are forever

(November 8, 2025)

As Bush‘s vice president, Cheney became a key architect of the US „war on terror“, which included the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 war on Iraq, and sweeping intelligence, surveillance and torture programmes.

Most notoriously, Cheney helped the Bush administration construct an elaborate double lie as a pretext for the invasion of Iraq.

(…)

Cheney‘s true legacy, then, lies not only in the „war on terror“ he helped engineer, but in the political and moral infrastructure he left behind.

More than two decades later, his post-9/11 world order – defined by endless wars, government overreach and impunity – endures, and today‘s war criminals, following in his path, roam free.

17.11.2025 - 19:00 [ Physicians for Human Rights Israel ]

Death Sentence for Palestinians in Custody | New Report and Testimonies

Our latest report reveals that over the past two years, up to August 2025, at least 94 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention facilities. Yet, the report stresses that this unprecedented figure likely represents only a portion of the full death toll. Given the Israeli military’s practice of enforced disappearances since October 2023, the actual number of deaths may be considerably higher. Moreover, since the report was completed, four more Palestinians have died in the past month alone, pushing the total close to triple digits – deaths caused by the systemic denial of medical care and the torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody. These policies persist even now, despite the ceasefire in Gaza.

The report is based on 94 documented cases between October 7, 2023, and August 2025. This unprecedented toll, together with extensive findings and evidence of deaths caused by torture and medical neglect, points to a deliberate Israeli policy of killing Palestinians in custody.

At least 46 Palestinians died in Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities, and 52 more died in military custody.

13.11.2025 - 22:35 [ Famous-Trials.com ]

The Trial of Galileo: An Account

The trial by the Congregation moved to its conclusion. Several of the ten cardinals apparently pushed for Galileo‘s incarceration in prison, while those more supportive of Galileo argued that–with changes–the Dialogue ought to continue to be allowed to circulate. In the end, a majority of the cardinals–rejecting much of the Commissary‘s agreement with Galileo–demanded Galileo „even with the threat of torture…abjure in a plenary assembly of the Congregation of the Holy Office…[and] then be condemned to imprisonment at the pleasure of the Holy Congregation.“ Moreover, the cardinals declared, the Dialogue „is to be prohibited.“

The grand play ran its course, with the Pope insisting upon a formal sentence, a tough examination of Galileo, public abjuration, and „formal prison.“ Galileo was forced to appear once again for formal questioning about his true feelings concerning the Copernican system. Galileo obliged, so as not to risk being branded a heretic, testifying that „I held, as I still hold, as most true and indisputable, the opinion of Ptolemy, that is to say, the stability of the Earth and the motion of the Sun.“ Galileo‘s renunciation of Copernicanism ended with the words, „I affirm, therefore, on my conscience, that I do not now hold the condemned opinion and have not held it since the decision of authorities….I am here in your hands–do with me what you please.“