• ‘It’s gotten to the point where he asks me not to come anymore because every time I come, they rape him,’ says Marmarelli

ISTANBUL

An Israeli lawyer has alleged that his Palestinian client is being tortured and sexually assaulted in custody, saying the abuse intensifies each time he visits the detainee.

Speaking in an interview with a known journalist, Samira Mohyeddin, lawyer Ben Marmarelli said his sole client, a Palestinian political prisoner, is subjected to severe mistreatment by Israeli authorities, including repeated sexual violence.

“It’s gotten to the point where he asks me not to come anymore because every time I come, they rape him,” Marmarelli said.

He added that sexual assault, while alarming, is only one part of a broader pattern of abuse.

“I want to say something about the rape. Everyone talks to me about the rape like it’s the big issue. The rape is not the big issue. The rape is the least of his problems,” he said. “The issue is the conditions of the prisoners, and the rape is just one of the many pieces of the puzzle, which is Israel torturing the Palestinian prisoners.”

Marmarelli said his client has shown him “boot marks on his back,” deep marks on his wrists from tight handcuffs, and “bruises all over his body.” According to him, the sexual assaults occur “once every few weeks” and appear to coincide with his visits.

“Palestinian political prisoners don’t get any visits for years. Their only connection to the outside world is a lawyer’s visit,” he said.

Marmarelli also referenced abuse at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where he claimed torture and sexual violence are pervasive and documented by internal surveillance systems.

"The Sde Teiman, this is, listen, what they did is they found the scapegoat. Because they rape all of the prisoners. Sde Teiman especially,” he said. “And not only that, they rape all of the prisoners; they have cameras filming 24/7. So if they really wanted to act against the rape and the beatings and the torture, we could have done this years ago. They don't do it."

Footage, leaked in August 2024, shows soldiers at Sde Teiman dragging a Palestinian prisoner lying face down before surrounding him with riot shields and assaulting him. The detainee was later hospitalized with serious injuries.

The video sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and calls to close the infamous Sde Teiman facility, where Israel detains Palestinians from Gaza amid mounting reports of systematic abuse and mistreatment.

On Oct. 31, Israeli military prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned after admitting to leaking the footage.

Tomer-Yerushalmi acknowledged responsibility for authorizing the release of “material to the media in an attempt to repel the false propaganda against law enforcement authorities in the military,” the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.