17/11/2025
A shocking testimony from detained journalist Farah Abu Ayash: “They put me with cockroaches underground, and I’m disappointed in my colleagues.”
Her lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, who managed to visit her in Damon Prison, says what he heard from Farah wasn’t just a legal statement, but it was a living testimony of the brutal abuse she has endured since the moment of her arrest.
According to the message she conveyed through her lawyer, Farah says:
“I went through horrible things. The arrest came suddenly in the middle of the night. So many soldiers, two female soldiers, many jeeps and ‘boz al-nimer’ vehicles. I never thought I was the target. They took me to Karmi Tzur, tied me to a chair outside, next to a pipe dripping filthy water on me.”
She continues describing the torture:
“The female soldiers tightened the white plastic cuffs on my wrists until the artery bulged. A commander came with pliers to cut them off. Dogs tearing at my pants. Then ‘Atzion’, a room full of electric boxes. They kept trying to strip away the fact that I’m a journalist. They forced me to give them my phone password. My work has always been absolutely transparent.”
She describes her transfer to the Moscobiya interrogation center:
“Moscobiya is a horror movie. They shoved me inside… shackled my hands and feet, then added a heavy chain over my shoulders. The Nahshon guards beat me. A female soldier grabbed me by the hair, slammed my head into the wall, and told me: ‘Kiss the Israeli flag.’ I refused. She kicked me. I was already sick.”
She adds, her voice shaking:
“They took me to Ramla, an abandoned room where they turned the lights off. I screamed; then a cell underground, full of cockroaches, insects, bedbugs. I cried all night. My whole body and face were covered in cockroaches; the marks are still there.”
Farah says she was later returned to Moscobiya, fainting repeatedly from the cold. The transport in the “bosta” was “terrifying and brutal.” After 55 days, she was moved to Damon Prison.
Speaking of her heartbreak over the silence around her case, she says:
“I’m disappointed in my fellow journalists. They didn’t create enough noise or pressure for my release… I was arrested because of my work. It’s their duty to carry my voice to every free journalist.”
She sends emotional messages to her family:
To her mother:
“I miss you so much. I tell the girls here about the ma’amoul you make. I keep remembering how you used to write me poems and I read them on the radio. Invite Ahmad’s fiancée for maqlouba and tell her it’s from me. And tell my sisters to pray Qiyam al-Layl at dawn on 07.12 and pray for me; it’s my court morning.”
To Abu Saleh:
“Congratulations. Don’t hold the wedding without me. Take care of Sham.”
To Saberine:
“My twin, the one I miss the most. I just want to get out so I can see her. Take care of Naya and Eileen.”
To Amani:
“My second mother, you come to me in my dreams every night.”
She continues:
“Send my love to all my uncles, aunts, and to Grandma Fayrouz.”
To her father:
“90 days of court sessions, I kept waiting to see you, but you never came. It was very hard on me, but I want to excuse you. I love you. Pray for me.”
As the visit ended, before the prison door closed behind her, she asked softly, with longing:
“What’s the name of Ahmad’s fiancée? Which family is she from? Who went to read the Fatiha? When is the wedding? Wait for me.”
Her lawyer ends his message:
“To you, Farah… all respect. Freedom to you and to all the women held in Damon Prison.
