The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) arrested Palestinian journalist Abdel Nasser Al-Laham, a photographer covering local news for the Ma’an News Agency, on October 16, 2023. He was held without charge at Ofer Prison, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The IDF released Al-Laham on May 14, 2025, after 19 months in detention.
IDF forces broke down the door to Al-Laham’s home in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, at 6:30 a.m., pointed their guns at the journalist, tied his hands behind his back, and blindfolded him, Al-Laham’s father, Mohammad Al-Laham, told Ma’an, which published a video of soldiers leading the journalist away.
“During the interrogation at Ofer, I was physically assaulted multiple times,” Al-Laham told CPJ after his release. “They shackled me in stress positions for up to 14 hours, and once they interrogated me for nearly 25 consecutive hours. In another instance, they subjected me to what they called a ‘lie detector test’ — a psychological tactic to pressure me into confessing. But I honestly didn’t even know what I was supposed to confess to. I was also abused during transfers to court sessions and insulted with obscene language.”
Al-Laham said his family had no knowledge of his whereabouts for 12 days following the arrest until a lawyer was able to visit him in prison.
“I was tried multiple times via phone, and the judge accused me of incitement and posing a threat to regional security (referring to Israel),” Al-Laham said. “My final court session was held on Sunday, May 11, 2025, at Ofer Military Court, where the judge sentenced me to 19 months in prison and fined me 10,000 shekels (US$2,700 USD). They also confiscated my mobile phone. Additionally, I received a suspended sentence of 14 months to five years and a 12,000-shekel fine (US$3,400 USD).”
Al-Laham reported a weight loss of 12 kilograms (26 pounds) over the course of his time in detention. “They gave us very little food — small portions of rice, two spoons of hummus, a spoon of labneh, and one egg. As a result, all the prisoners experienced significant weight loss,” Al-Laham said.
Al-Laham´s father told CPJ that his son was questioned about activities during his time at university, though was unable to specify what. According to news reports, Al-Laham majored in media technology at the Palestine National University.
In October 2024, Al-Laham’s father posted on YouTube, in a video that has since been removed, that his son had been detained for over a year.
Al-Laham was detained as part of the mass arrests Israeli forces conducted in the occupied West Bank in the wake of October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, prompting Israel to declare war on the militant group.
Al-Laham was among the journalists whose testimony was included in the CPJ special report “We returned from hell,” published in February 2026, which compiles accounts from 58 journalists who reported patterns of abuse, torture, and mistreatment against Palestinian journalists inside Israeli prisons.
The Israeli military did not respond to CPJ’s repeated requests for comment on specific allegations by journalists in the report, instead requesting ID numbers and geographic coordinates that CPJ does not collect or provide. When asked about allegations of physical and sexual abuse, starvation, and the investigation and accountability process, an army spokesperson said “individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law,” adding that the armed forces “have never, and will never, deliberately target journalists,” and that any violations of protocol “will be looked into.”
CPJ also emailed the Israel Prison Service (IPS) regarding the allegations in the report. In response, the IPS said “all prisoners are detained according to the law” and that “all basic rights are fully upheld by professionally trained prison guards.” The service said it was unaware of the claims described, and that to its knowledge “no such events have occurred,” but noted that “prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”
CPJ also emailed the IDF, the Israel’s Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, and the ISP in late 2024 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Palestinian journalists but received no response.
In 2017, Al-Laham, then 15, was imprisoned for eight months in Ofer Prison, according to news reports. He was briefly arrested again in Jerusalem in May 2021 while he was on his way to the mosque for dawn prayers, according to newsreports.