An Israeli court has stopped plans to move crocodiles outside a prison for Palestinians – but not for human rights concerns.
Animal rights campaigners said moving crocodiles into a moat outside Ketziot Prison in the Negev desert was ‘vicious and cruel’.
The prison holds more than 75% of Palestinian detainees arrested by the IDF and has been accused of torture. The true number of prisoners is unknown.
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who previously had a birthday cake with a noose on it to celebrate the death penalty for all Palestinians convicted of terrorism, was behind the cruel idea to move the crocodiles.
The crocodiles proposed for relocation outside the prison were from the Nile and are classified as a ‘protected’ reptile.
After a judge from the Jerusalem District Court stopped the transfer of the animals for fears of ‘harm’ to them, Ben Gvir said animal rights workers were taking the side of ‘terrorists’.
‘We know that the terrorists are worried about the arrival of the crocodiles, but today the court came to their aid,’ he said. The Israeli state has until August 16 to submit a response to the ruling.
The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (BTSELEM) previously revealed torture methods used in prisons across the country to torment Palestinians.
At Ketziot prison, Ashraf al-Muhtaseb, 53, recalled the terror of his time inside.
‘The scariest part of that period was at night. Unit members would suddenly come into the cell, explicitly threaten to kill us and beat us badly. They also played loud music at night. We still had no blankets or mattresses,’ he said.
Sami Khalili, 41, spent 22 years in multiple prisons and said that in Ketziot prison, he and other prisoners were beaten routinely.
‘We were taken to a room which had a lot of clothes, shoes, rings and watches scattered in it. We were stripped naked and even had to take off our underwear. We were searched with a hand-held metal detector,’ he said.
‘They forced us to spread our legs and then sit half crouching. Then they started hitting us on our private parts with the detector. They rained blows down on us. Then they ordered us to salute an Israeli flag that was hanging on the wall.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.