On August 6, 2025, Israeli forces arrested 24-year-old Palestinian journalist Farah Abu Ayash from her home in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, in the early hours of the morning, according to her family and multiple newsreports.
Her father, Mohammed Abu Ayash, told CPJ that Israeli forces raided the house, searching and ransacking it, before detaining his daughter, who works for Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. He said the raid was part of a broader campaign that included searches of several homes in the al-Dhahr neighborhood and on Sheikhah Fatima Street in Beit Ummar.
Abu Ayash’s lawyer, Ihab al-Ghalayidh, from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, told CPJ that Israeli police have accused her of having “contact with a foreign agent,” without elaborating.
Farah was previously arrested on January 21, 2025.
On November 16, 2025, Abu Ayash spoke to lawyer Hassan Abbadi about the conditions she has experienced inside Al-Moskobiya prison, in Jerusalem, in Aylon prison near Ramla, and Damon prison, near Haifa, where she is currently being held. Her testimonywas shared on Radio Nisaa on November 17, 2025. CPJ contacted Abbadi on November 19, 2025 and he confirmed the information and details reported in her testimony.
Abu Ayash said the abuse began at the moment of her arrest. She said that military dogs tore at her trousers, her hands were bound tightly with zip ties, and she was tied to a leaking water pipe that left her soaked through the night. She reported being forced to hand over her phone’s password.
Abu Ayash said conditions at Al-Moskobiya prison felt like a “horror movie.” She said that while she was ill, guards placed heavy chains on her shoulders, slammed her head against a wall, pulled her by the hair, and ordered her to kiss the Israeli flag. When she refused, she said they beat her.
She also described unsanitary conditions in Aylon prison, noting she was held in a cell infested with rats, cockroaches, and bedbugs that crawled over her body and face, leaving marks that she said remained visible. She said that she was denied access to a shower and not given clean clothing.
Abbadi told CPJ Abu Ayash spent at least 55 days in solitary confinement and suffered from medical neglect, routine beatings and verbal abuse, and the repeated pulling of her headscarf. She reported to Abbadi that she was subjected to strip searches and experienced harassment.
According to a report published on December 2, 2025 by her employer, Tasnim News, Farah experienced clear forms of abuse that are widely recognized as torture practices, including water boarding and electroshock.
On December 7, 2025, the Israeli Ofer military court rescheduled Farah’s trial for the sixth time. According to her father Mohammed Abu Ayash, who spoke to CPJ on December 9, 2025, Israeli authorities previously extended her detention twice for a week, then twice for 15 days, then once for 45 days. The newest extension is just over a month, putting Abu Ayash’s new date in court at January 13, 2025.
Her father added that the journalist is currently ill: “Her heart rate has dropped to 42, and the lawyer has asked the judge to transfer her to hospital, but we do not yet know the court's response to this request.”
CPJ emailed the Israeli Prison Service for comment but did not receive a response.