In the early hours of Wednesday, February 25, 2004, I heard that the police were in the village to demolish houses belonging to my relatives. I went out to see what was happening. My son Saleh saw me and asked me to come back home, fearing that I might suffocate from the teargas bombs fired by the police. I suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes. I returned home and went up to the house of my eldest son Hussein [the two houses are adjacent in the same building].

At Hussein’s house, I was with Alia’ [Hussein’s wife], my daughter Raza’ and my son Saleh. My sister-in-law arrived at the house having been blocked from picking up her child from the kindergarten by the police. Alia’s sister-in-law was also with us. She had faced the same problem when she tried to collect her child from the kindergarten. Alia’s aunt and grandmother were with us too.

Saleh was watching TV and playing with his nephews (a four-year-old girl, a two-year-old boy and a two-week-old baby). We were watching what was happening outside through the window. We saw the police fire teargas bombs at the people in the streets and people were running away and the troops were chasing them away.

In the meantime, we saw a woman called Salwa Bakri running after her son, who himself was running away from the police. Salwa stopped at our house and we heard the police insulting her and ordering her to go upstairs. Salwa knocked at our door, but I was so scared from what I had seen outside that I told my son Saleh not to open the door. The knocking grew louder, so Saleh peeked through the eye of the door and could only see Salwa. He said: “Don’t worry, this is Salwa.” As soon as he opened the door, about nine police officers forced their way in. We found out later that the police had been hiding below so that we couldn’t see them through the eye of the door; and that they had asked her [Salwa] to knock at the door.

The policemen pushed Salwa in and entered our house in a violent manner. They started beating us with their clubs. They also hit and kicked the furniture, causing much damage.

After they had entered, they seized Saleh and said they wanted to arrest him. Saleh was barefoot, which is proof that he had nothing to do with what was going on outside. He had been in the house all the time, in the company of the children. Raza' and I tried to free him from their grip, pulling him towards us, but the policemen started beating me on my right hand and left shoulder with their batons. One of the policemen pushed me and held me on the couch while two others stood over me and prevented me from standing up. I saw Saleh fall to the ground. One of the policemen kicked him in the right cheek with his boots. His sister Raza' tried to defend him and hit one of the policemen; when she tried to move the policeman away from her brother, he grabbed her by her clothes, pushing and pulling her violently and ripping her blouse. He scratched her chest and neck.

While Saleh was on the floor, his aunt also tried to protect him from the blows. She threw herself down on him and placed her hands around his head, but the policemen hit her with a baton on her head, causing a bleeding wound. She lost consciousness and let go of Saleh.

Two policemen dragged Saleh out of the house, across the floor and the staircase. As they pulled him downstairs, he was shouting and saying that he did not do anything. Another policeman ridiculed him saying: “Oh, so you didn’t do anything! Okay.” Then, he hit Saleh with his baton on the chest. When I saw them holding Saleh and beating him brutally, I lost control. I grabbed a large plate with fruit, which was on the table, and threw it at them. It hit one of the policemen on the head but he wasn’t hurt because he was wearing a helmet.

When they took Saleh to the car, I was screaming and calling his name and then I fainted; my high blood pressure could not stand all that stress. I woke up to find myself in the hospital. My hands were bruised from the intensity of the beating. In the hospital, I had to be sedated.

25/2/2004