Storming Detention centre to free alleged rapists shows growing Israeli fascism: Barghouti says

The storming of the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility and the military courts in Beit Lid  by Israeli protesters to prevent a probe into ten soldiers who are thought to have sexually assaulted a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza “is evidence of the rise of fundamentalist Zionist fascism”, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Mustafa Barghouti, said yesterday.

At least 57 Palestinan prisoners have been killed as a result of torture in Israeli prisons since 7 October 2023, including 36 prisoners who were martyred in Sdi Teiman, he added, pointing to reports of the systemic use of sexual violence and rape against Palestinians.

“The Israeli military establishment is trying to protect itself from the International Criminal Court by conducting formal investigations, but even that does not please Israeli fascists,” said Barghouti.

He stressed that the Palestinians do not trust the Israeli judiciary or the military courts and are demanding an international investigation committee probe the crimes committed in Israeli prisons against Palestinian prisoners.

READ: Palestinian detainees subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, says UN