According to the findings that were sent to Haaretz, Mara’i’s chest was bruised and his ribs and breastbone were broken. There were also signs of external bruises to his head, neck, back, buttocks, left arm and thigh. According to the autopsy report, he was healthy and had no preexisting conditions before his imprisonment.
Meanwhile, a prisoner released from Megiddo Prison in the north on November 16 said he was in the cell with Mara’i. In a phone interview with Physicians for Human Rights after his release, he said that since the war started, forces from various prison service units at Megiddo Prison would come every Sunday and Tuesday to shackle the prisoners’ hands behind their backs and beat them. He said that a few days before his release he saw Mara’i being beaten.
“They handcuffed us behind our backs and started a punching party. They taunted one of the prisoners, Abed al-Rahman Mara’i, and cursed his late father, who had recently died. He started screaming and then about 15 people from the force attacked him, all of them surrounding him and hitting him hard,” according to the prisoner’s testimony that was shared with Haaretz.
“The blows went on for about five minutes, and they focused on beating him on the head. Then they took him away.” About a week later, the prisoner said, the other inmates learned that Mara’i had died.
