Name: Taha El-Shakh’sheer

Birth date: 17 January 1965

Detention date: 1 January 1992

Sentence: Life + 15 years

Hometown: Nablus

Background

Taha was born in a generous family that has sacrificed much for the sake of Palestine. Yasin, Taha’s younger brother, was murdered by occupation forces on 16 December 1988 as he raised the first green flag in Nablus. And Taha’s older brother, Ahmad, is a community leader in Nablus and was detained by occupation forces many times. Their father, Sheikh Adel El-Shakh’sheer was known for advocating Islamic morals and fighting corruption. He uttered the words of truth and advice without fear. And for that, he put up with much ridicule from people.

Resisting the occupation

In his neighborhood, Taha was known for his daily resistance activities. He took part in demonstrations and threw stones at occupation patrols. He had a routine of stoning any patrol entering his street with stones. He used his strong body against the occupation.

On the first day of 1992, occupation forces stormed Taha’s house to arrest him. He exchanged blows with the soldiers and broke the arm of one of the soldiers. And when they tried to cuff his hands, he refused for that to take place in his house. The led him by his hand to the jeep where he was handcuffed. The arrest came following a number of armed resistance operations against occupation troops.

For the next 100 days, Taha was subjected to interrogation and torture. The interrogators applied all forms of physical and psychological torture to no avail. And in one session, Taha exchanged blows with the interrogators and beat one of them. They could control his only after he lost consciousness after being gassed.

This being Taha’s first detention, he was unaware of the “Bird Trap.” The trap consisted of putting the detainee in a room full of traitors who give the prisoner the impression that he is out of the interrogation. Lulled into a false sense of safety, the detainee is coaxed into giving the “patriotic” prisoners all the information he had.

When Taha was transferred to the “Bird Trap,” he gave an account of the resistance operations he carried out. These included throwing grenades and Molotov bombs at patrols.

The military court procedures took years, after which, Taha was sentenced for life and 15 years.

Life in prison

Taha left school after 5^th grade. And recently he registered to take the secondary school certificate exam with the aim of continuing his university education. In addition, he is an avid reader of books.

On the issue of release, Taha is optimistic that he’ll be free one day. However, he knows that the occupation will not “willingly” release Palestinian prisoners.