Twelve Israeli Prison Guards Were Charged Over a Beating That Tore a Palestinian Prisoner’s Heart
Prosecutors say a shift commander led guards into a cell at Ketziot Prison after evening count in November 2023. Thaer Abu Asab, 38, died hours later with broken ribs and cardiac failure.
Israeli prosecutors have indicted 12 Israel Prison Service personnel and former employees over the death of a Palestinian prisoner who was beaten in his cell at Ketziot Prison in November 2023, and over the assault of eight other inmates in the same incident. The indictment was filed this week at the Beersheba District Court.
All 12 defendants face charges of reckless homicide, aggravated serious bodily harm and multiple counts of aggravated assault causing actual bodily harm. The shift commander and the shift sergeant on duty face additional charges of obstructing an investigation.
According to the State Attorney's Office, the shift commander led a group of guards into a cell after the evening count, telling them prison management was aware of what they were about to do. He then "ordered the other defendants inside, where they jointly attacked Abu Asab and the eight other prisoners with punches and kicks," prosecutors said.
Thaer Abu Asab, 38, collapsed shortly afterward and was pronounced dead at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Medical findings cited in the indictment describe multiple broken ribs and tears in the walls of his heart — on the left-ventricular side and in the right atrium — causing cardiac failure and bleeding around the organ. Abu Asab, a member of Fatah, had been imprisoned since 2005 on charges of attempted murder and security offenses. The eight other prisoners in the cell sustained bruising and injuries to their backs, arms and shoulders.
The obstruction charges describe what prosecutors say happened once police opened a file. The shift sergeant is accused of instructing one of the guards to tell investigators that no batons had been used. The shift commander is accused of contacting another officer in an attempt to shape the statements female officers would give.
The case is one of the few to reach an Israeli courtroom out of a much larger set of allegations. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel has counted more than 100 Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, a period in which the prisoner population expanded sharply and conditions inside Israeli facilities drew repeated warnings from human rights monitors and United Nations investigators. Nearly three years passed between Abu Asab's death and the filing of charges.
Ketziot, in the Negev desert, is the largest of Israel's prison facilities and holds a substantial share of the detainees classified as security prisoners. Conditions there have been a recurring subject of complaints by Israeli and Palestinian legal groups since late 2023, when the prison population swelled and oversight visits were curtailed. The indictment does not address whether the guards' claim that management knew about the cell entry has any basis, and the State Attorney's Office has not said whether any prison official above the shift level is under investigation.
Originally reported by The Jerusalem Post.