TEHRAN - A single shocking photograph of Mujahed Bani Mufleh is enough to bring shame upon Israel before the entire world, portraying it as a regime willing to resort to inhumane acts to silence every Palestinian voice that cries out for justice.

The contrast between two photographs of Bani Mufleh—a journalist from the West Bank—one taken before his imprisonment and the other after his release, speaks volumes about Israel's disregard for Palestinian lives.

The latter image, showing his severe physical deterioration, bears stark witness to what Bani Mufleh endured during his detention. It should also prompt countries, organizations, lobbyists, and individuals who have supported Israel's treatment of Palestinians to reassess their perception of the country—if they retain even a shred of conscience.

The following section includes Bani Mufleh's account of his experience in prison, along with comments from journalists and other observers posted on Middle East Eye:

Before-and-after photos of a Palestinian journalist released from Israeli detention have sparked anger on social media and calls for accountability from journalists and rights organizations, describing the Israeli prison system as a “tool for both the slow and direct killing” of detainees.

Mujahed Bani Mufleh shared a photograph of his shocking physical state after eight months in Israeli prison on his Instagram page on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old was held in administrative detention - imprisonment without charge or trial - and eventually released from Israeli prison in January. He found out just two days later that he had suffered a severe brain hemorrhage due to prison conditions and medical neglect. He required emergency surgeries and continues to face a long road to recovery, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said in a statement.

The father of three from the town of Beita, in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, described the nights in Israeli prison in a statement accompanying the images: “You lie awake between physical suffering and heavy thoughts, counting the hours and waiting for dawn as if it were salvation.”

He wrote: “I learned humiliation when every part of your day is controlled by someone else… When even your privacy and dignity are no longer yours."

“During that time, I learned how to be grateful and understood the true meaning of hunger; when you wait for a morsel that isn't enough, you go to sleep with a stomach ache, and wake up with the same feeling. I learned how a loaf of bread can become a dream, and how a sip of cold water can feel like a blessing from heaven…

“Fourteen months taught me that blessings aren't as vast as we thought; rather, they are these small details we took for granted.”

‘System to break Palestinian bodies’

The photos sent shockwaves across social media, with journalists, activists and ordinary social media users highlighting Bani Mufleh’s case, slamming Israeli authorities and demanding accountability.

This is the “the face of a tortured man who has barely survived an emergency procedure… whose quality of life has been reduced to almost zero forever,” wrote one doctor on X.

Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Eldin said on Instagram: “The images speak to a system designed to break Palestinian bodies as much as silence Palestinian voices: starvation, abuse, humiliation, and imprisonment without accountability.”

Another X user wrote that Israeli administrative detention purposefully “destroys bodies” of Palestinians before releasing them “to collapse outside, where liability disappears”.

‘Not an exception’

Bani Mufleh’s physical state is a reflection of the harsh treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, and demonstrates the “true meaning of Israel’s exterminatory prison system, which has become a tool of both slow and direct killing of prisoners”, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said.

“[His] case is not an exception, but rather one of thousands of cases that have faced - and continue to face - systematic crimes within the Israeli prison system, through torture, starvation, total denial of medical treatment, and physical and psychological abuse at all levels, in addition to a continuous policy of psychological terror practiced against prisoners around the clock,” the organization continued.

It added that there have been “hundreds of cases” of Palestinian prisoners who emerged from Israeli detention in “extremely serious physical and psychological conditions” but that the cases are often not publicized due to the “fear, shock, and terror experienced by former prisoners and their families, who worry about being re-arrested”.

Reports of torture and deaths in Israeli prisons - referred to as “torture camps” by Israeli rights group B’tselem - have surged since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

At least 245 Palestinian journalists have been arrested by Israel since the start of the genocide in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Prisoners’ Society.

At least 9,500 Palestinians are reported to be in Israeli prisons, though the actual number is believed to be higher, as Israeli authorities withhold information on hundreds of people seized in Gaza.