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7.4 Sexual Torture

7.4 Sexual Torture

When my research assistant left after the interview with Shazain, we sat on the couch when he leaned into me and said there was one thing he hadn’t yet mentioned, namely how torture methods also involve sexual intimidation. He explained how he knew of several fellow male prisoners whose torturers threatened with anal penetration. Shazain’s reference to sexual harassment and threats of rape reveals yet another dimension of psychological torture. Sexual violence is historically used in carceral and military settings to instil fear, shame, and humiliation (Bourke 2010; Shalhoub-Kevorkian 2009)1 2.

The accounts that follow are drawn from testimonies provided by detainees and prisoners who have experienced or witnessed acts of sexual violence and mistreatment. These testimonies, recorded by the NGO Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), detail incidents of physical abuse, sexual threats, and other forms of degrading treatment. While each experience is unique, together they reveal patterns of systematic mistreatment within the detention system.

Prisoner R. (Ketziot Prison) – According to testimony received on December 4, 2023 by PCATI from R., a prisoner who was released recently, he and others were subjected to daily violence at Ketziot Prison, beginning on October 14. Wardens would enter the cell and beat everyone using sticks and any other objects in their hands. According to R.’s testimony, on October 15 there was a particularly serious incident. Wardens from special units entered the cells, destroyed and tore everything, and subjected all the prisoners to curses of a sexual nature: “you are whores,” “we’ll fuck you all,” “we’ll fuck your sister and your wife,” and “we’ll piss on your mattresses.” On the same day, he was placed on the toilet and urinated on. The wardens would also undertake searches while the prisoners were naked, using violence; around 12 prisoners were placed in a small toilet stall, creating severe congestion. The wardens would threaten to kill the prisoners as they entered the cells. In addition, R. witnessed several instances of sexual assault and harassment. Wardens would conduct searches while the prisoners were naked, place naked prisoners against each other, and place the aluminum device used in the searches in their buttocks. In another instance, the wardens passed a card in a prisoner’s buttocks. All of this took place in sight of other prisoners and wardens, while the wardens took pleasure in beating the prisoner’s genitals. Detainee A. (Hasharon Prison) – In the protocol of a hearing held on November 13, 2023, at Judea Military Court, female detainee A’s attorney reported that A had sustained repeated abuse; among other incidents, wardens had beaten A in her cell, without cameras, while she was naked.

Detainee A. (Hasharon Prison) – In the protocol of a hearing held on November 15, 2023 at Haifa District Court, it was reported that another female detainee (also referred to as Detainee A) had been threatened with rape and bodily assault. The Court ordered the IPS to investigate A’s claims. (PCATI 2024, 7--8)3

A central theme in these accounts is the use of the body as a site of discipline and subjugation. The forced nudity, physical beatings, sexualised threats, and humiliation tactics demonstrate how bodily integrity is deliberately violated to instil fear and submission. Power is exercised not only through direct physical harm but also through symbolic acts that strip individuals of agency. The public nature of some of these abuses–with wardens taking pleasure in dehumanising detainees–underscores the performative aspect of violence, reinforcing hierarchies of power through spectacle. The use of sexualised threats and acts of degradation highlights the intersection of gender, power, and violence in carceral settings. Threats of rape, enforced nudity, and degrading searches serve as tools of emasculation and social control, reinforcing power asymmetries between detainees and prison authorities.

Nahla Abdo sees the Israeli prison institutions as spaces where the Israeli state’s racism and Orientalism, sexist ideology and the construction of the Other are mirrored (Abdo 2011)4. These systemic constructions, which paint the Palestinian woman as someone who is docile, subservient, religious, obedient, and ever fearful of bodily sexuality, are heavily intertwined with the torture techniques in use (Abdo 2011)4. Rape and the threat of rape is, as this section outlines, present across embodied genders. Abdo’s analysis highlights how the Israeli prison system uses torture techniques to reinforce racist and sexist ideologies. The systemic construction of Palestinian women as docile, subservient, and religiously obedient intersects with sexual violence to further erode their cultural and social identities. The use of rape and threats of rape against women aims to break their spirit and conform them to the oppressor’s constructed stereotypes, stripping away their personal and cultural identity. The use of sexual violence in torture is a form of symbolic violence that goes beyond the physical act. It conveys a message of domination and control over the individual and their entire community and identity. The necropolitical aspect, where the Israeli state exerts control over life and death, is evident in the way these acts are used to enforce power hierarchies and subjugate the oppressed population. The torture methods become a tool for maintaining systemic power and control.

References

  1. Bourke, Joanna. 2010. Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present Day. Reprint. Virago. ↩

  2. Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera. 2009. Militarization and Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press. ↩

  3. PCATI. 2024. Systemic Torture and Inhumane Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prison Facilities Since October 7, 2023. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. ↩

  4. Abdo, Nahla. 2011. "Palestinian Women Political Prisoners and the Israeli State." In Threat: Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israel, edited by Abeer Baker and Anat Matar. Pluto Press. ↩↩