On November 2, 2026, Israeli soldiers arrested Samer Khuwaira, in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. The 46-year-old father of four is a radio presenter at Hawa Nablus Radio, a correspondent for the Qatari-funded pan-Arab newspaper Al Araby Al Jadeed, and a contributor to other outlets.
“At 2 am on Monday, the Israeli occupation army surrounded our building on Asira Street in Nablus. About 20 soldiers stormed our apartment and arrested Samer. We asked them if it was an arrest or just for questioning, and what the reason was, but unfortunately, they didn’t answer,” his wife Iman told CPJ.
“On Tuesday, a lawyer contacted me and told me that one of her colleagues had confirmed that he was being held in a detention center. Upon his arrest, he was taken to the Huwwara detention center and then to the Salem interrogation center. The lawyer said that he would most likely be placed under administrative detention,” she added.
The journalist was previously imprisoned from April 10, 2025 to January 7, 2026.
Upon his release, Khuweira told CPJ that Israeli forces raided his home at 3:00 a.m. on April 10, 2025, and transferred him to the Howara interrogation center for 25 days, then to Megiddo Prison for 22 days, and later to Ganot Prison, where he spent about seven months.
He alleged torture in Israeli detention centres. Khuweira said that he was beaten by Israeli soldiers, particularly on his chest, sprayed with an unknown gas, and subjected to starvation, losing 22 kilograms. He also contracted scabies and boils due to poor prison hygiene.
Khuweira added that he appeared six times before Israeli courts via video conference to uphold administrative detention orders, and that shortly before his release, an Israeli intelligence officer indirectly threatened him with re-arrest if he repeated what the officer described as his “mistakes.”
CPJ’s email to the IDF International Press Desk for comment on Khuwaira’s previous detention received a reply requesting the ID number of the journalist, which CPJ does not collect. It further received this reply: “Some of the claims in the query were presented without sufficient details regarding detainees’ identity, making it impossible to review them.”