On September 19, 2024, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Mujahed al-Saadi, who contributes to the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Araby, Al-Jadeed and the local broadcaster Palestine Today TV, during the night at his home in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, according to news reports. He was released on July 14, 2026, after spending 22 months in Israeli custody under consecutive administrative detention orders.
Al-Saadi was held at Ktzi’ot/Negev Prison, in southern Israel, and was not charged or sentenced. His administrative detention order was renewed at least five times: his first order lasted six months and ended on March 18, 2025. The second was renewed for four months, from March 19 to July 17, 2025. The third extended from July 17 to November 16, 2025, followed by a fourth from November 16, 2025, to March 15, 2026. The most recent order expired on July 14, 2026, the day of his release. He was previously detained in Megiddo prison.
On the moments of his detention, al-Saadi’s brother, Amjad al-Saadi, told the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes that the soldiers broke into his brother’s home, assaulted and beat him, and detained him in his pajamas. “They didn’t allow him to change his clothes or put on his shoes and they seized his cell phones,” he said.
While in detention, CPJ contacted al-Saadi’s wife, Raya in March 2026, who said that his lawyer was only allowed to visit him only once every one to two months.
Al-Saadi’s wife told CPJ then that the journalist was beaten in prison by officers, who broke his eyeglasses he direly needed to see. The authorities have refused to provide him with medical treatment or transfer him to a clinic, and he also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.
CPJ emailed the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) in March 2026 for comment on the health condition of al-Saadi but had not received a response.
Upon his release, al-Saadi told CPJ that he lost 30 kilograms (about 66 pounds) in custody, “as a result of a policy of starvation, we were given meals that were not even enough for a child.”
Al-Saadi also said that he was subjected to abuse and medical neglect, “I contracted scabies, suffered nerve damage affecting three fingers on my right hand due to the tight handcuffs, developed impaired liver and thyroid function, inflammation of the gallbladder, anemia, and vitamin deficiencies.”
Al-Saadi’s testimony is consistent with CPJ's special report on abuse of Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons.
CPJ emailed the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) again in July 2026 for comment on the allegations of abuse and medical neglect made by the journalist, but received no reply at the time of publishing.