fonte: B'Tselem - www.btselem.org

Border Police Officer Forces Palestinian Resident of 'Attil to Commit Sexual Act with Donkey, in Zeita,Tulkarm District, The West Bank, June 2003

Testimony of Nazih Salah 'Awad Damiri, age 24, single, shepherd, resident of 'Attil

The testimony was given to 'Ataf Abu a-Rob in Zeita on 6 August 2003


I have been a shepherd for ten years. The flock belongs to my family, and I graze it in the area between Zeita and 'Attil. We have an animal shed in the area, and I sleep in a small room inside the shed. I take them out at 6:00 A.M. and come back in the afternoon.

On one Thursday, I don't remember the date, I took out the flock. My brother Tahsin and my cousin 'Abd a-Basat, were with me. We walked the flock toward the area west of Zeita, west of the security fence. When we reached the gate in the fence, northwest of Zeita, we saw a Border Police jeep standing on the road west of the fence. Two male border police officers were in the jeep, and they let the flock pass through the gate. They also let my brother pass, and told him to continue walking. One of the border policemen demanded my ID card and started to check it. I had a donkey with me and was holding him by a rope. The officer who was sitting next to the driver asked me if I had ever been in jail. He spoke very good Arabic. I told him that I had never been in jail.

After the policeman checked my ID, he took the rope from my hand and tied it to the front of the jeep. Then he told my cousin to unleash the donkey's saddle. He unleashed it. Then he told him to put the saddle on the ground. Then he told me to wear the saddle. I put it on my shoulders, and my cousin tied it on me, like the policeman told him to do. Then the policeman told me to walk to the greenhouses not far away and to come back. I did that several times. Then he ordered me to sit on the donkey. He bound my hands with the rope that was tied to the donkey. After I sat on the donkey, he told me to ride toward the greenhouses and to come back. He still had my ID card. He had me do it three times. The first time, my hands were tied. Then he untied my hands. The saddle remained tied on my back.

Then he told me to ride to the nearby grove. I asked him about my ID card. He told me that we hadn't finished, and that he would be behind me. He and the other policeman followed me in the jeep. When we reached the grove, he tied the donkey to a tree and told me to fuck it. He repeated his demand a couple of times. He also told me to lift up the tail of the donkey and tie it around my head. I told him that the tail was too short, and that I wasn't able to do it. He stood facing me and aimed his weapon at me. The other policeman was in the jeep, watching what was going on.

I stood behind the donkey, took out my penis, and told him "enough." He said, "I'll tell you when it is enough." I was frightened to death, and I couldn't get an erection, so I couldn't do anything. He made me continue, and I pretended that I was doing what he wanted me to do. I tried to look over at them, but the policeman yelled at me and told me not to look, and that if I did, he would shoot me. This went on for about thirty minutes, before he told me to stop. He tightened the saddle on my back and gave me back my ID card. Then he told me, "Ride over to the flock, fuck them, and I'll chase you." I rode away, the saddle still on me, and he watched me go. After I got some distance away from them, I untied the saddle and walked over to my brother, who was on the land west of the fence, and told him what happened.

My cousin and lots of other people saw what happened to me. I have not gone to the western side of the fence since then. I am afraid that I'll come across border policemen again.


Testimony of A, age 38, married with four children, laborer, resident of 'Attil

The testimony was given to 'Ataf Abu a-Rob at the witness's house on 7 August 2003

I work with Abu Jihad Abu Gazar, who is from Zeita. He grows vegetables in an area that lies about forty meters northwest of a gate in the [separation] fence through which residents pass.

In late June, it was a Thursday I think, around 8:30 A.M., I was in the greenhouse. I heard the siren of an army or Border Police vehicle, and I looked outside. I saw a border policeman in a jeep checking the ID card of Nazih Damiri, whom I know. While the check was taking place, Nazih was holding the reins of his donkey, which had a saddle and was laden with sacks.

Nazih was with another man. I heard one of the two border policemen in the jeep ask the other man to take everything off the back of the donkey. He unloaded the donkey and put the sacks and saddle on Nazih's back. Then he went away.

Nazih began to walk toward one of the greenhouses. When he reached it, he turned around and walked back toward the policemen. The policemen had ordered him to do that. He repeated this about twenty times. Then they ordered him to ride the donkey with the saddle on his back. They told him to ride to the greenhouse, and when they whistled, to turn around and ride back to them. He did that three or four times. The border policemen were laughing and enjoying themselves. Then one of the policemen threw Nazih's ID card toward him. Nazih got off the donkey and took his ID.

One of the policemen pointed to a nearby grove. Nazih went to the grove with his donkey, while the jeep followed behind him. Nazih went into the grove, and the jeep stopped alongside the path.

I moved so that I could see what was going on. My brothers Bassem and al-'Abd were with me. The three of us saw what happened. One of the policemen got out of the jeep and then got back in. I did not see what he did. The policemen watched Nazih from the jeep. I couldn't see him, but I could hear him. At the instructions of the policemen, he shouted all kinds of things related to sex. The policemen were laughing. Nazih was in the grove for about fifteen minutes. We stopped watching and went back to work. I don't know what happened to Nazih after that.

A few days later, I met Ziad Nimer, who is Nazih's cousin. I told him what had happened to Nazih, and I said that I think that the border policemen forced him to commit a sexual act with the donkey. That was my conclusion based on the sounds I heard. I told him because I was so shocked by the incident. I didn't know [at the time] that Nazih and Ziad are related. I later heard from several people in the village that Nazih indeed was forced to have sex with the donkey, so I knew that it was true.