On Wednesday, 22 March 2023, at around 4:30 P.M., bus driver Ahmad al-A’war (32) drove passengers from Bab al-Amud (Damascus Gate) to the Abu Tur neighborhood, where he got stuck in a traffic jam on the eastern side of HaMefaked Street, north of Abu Tur. After the bus stood in place for a few minutes, two Border Police officers approached al-A’war’s window and asked him to reverse. Al-A’war explained that he couldn’t reverse without guidance. A verbal confrontation, including cursing and swearing, then broke out. One of the police officers pulled Al-A’war’s shirt, and the officer standing behind him pepper sprayed him in the face. Both of the police officers approached the bus’s front door, which was closed, and ordered him to open it. One of them hit the front windshield, went back to Al-A’war’s window, and once again ordered him to open it. Al-A’war refused and cursed the officer.
In the meantime, one of the passengers moved Al-A’war, whose eyes had been injured by the pepper spray, to the back of the bus. A few seconds later, both of the police officers boarded the bus through its back door, handcuffed Al-A’war while ripping his shirt, and took him outside. A few minutes later, the police officers put him in their jeep and took him to the police station in Jabal al-Mukabber without giving him medical treatment.
At the station, Al-A’war was held in the jeep for around half an hour and was even questioned inside the jeep by two Israel Security Agency (ISA) interrogators. He was then brought into the station, where it became clear that a video documenting his assault by police officers had spread on social media. At around 9:30 P.M., after he gave his testimony at the station, Al-A’war was released without charges. He went to the St. John Eye Hospital in East Jerusalem the next day, where he was treated for his eye injury.
In a testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri on 25 March 2023, Ahmad al-‘Awar, a 32-year-old resident of Silwan and father of three, recounted what happened after he was taken off the bus in handcuffs:
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Ahmad al-‘Awar after his release. Photo by 'Amer 'Aruri, B'Tselem, 25 March 2023
After a few minutes, the police officers put me in their jeep and started to drive. The officer that had pepper sprayed me drove, and there was another (female) police officer in the jeep. I felt like I was choking and asked them to open the windows. They turned on the air conditioner. I felt like we drove for a long time. I could only see from my left eye and from what I saw, we drove in the Abu Tur neighborhood and then through Wadi al-Rababa. We stopped there for around 20 minutes, and the officers talked among themselves, deciding which police station to go to. I didn’t receive first aid this whole time. In the meantime, another Border Police car came, and one of the police officers who came told me that I was detained because I attacked a police officer. I asked him who told him that I attacked a police officer and told him that it wasn’t true. He said: “Say that in the Oz Police Department.”
They moved me to the second jeep, and the police officer who had pepper sprayed me also got inside. We drove to the Oz Police Station in Jabal al-Mukabber. When we got there, they didn’t let me get out of the jeep. Around half an hour later, an (female) interrogator in plainclothes came and asked to see my ID card. After I showed her the card, she asked if I knew why I was there, and I told her that the police officers said that it was because I injured a police officer, but I didn’t injure anybody. Another interrogator came after that, also in plainclothes, and told the first interrogator that a lawyer had called them. They mentioned his name and asked me if I knew him. I said that I did. I later found out that my parents had hired him for me.
They took me out of the jeep and brought me to an interrogation room in the police station. I still hadn’t received first aid. I heard them talking to the lawyer on the phone, who called them again, and told them that there was a video spreading on social media that showed that I hadn’t harmed any police officer or anyone else, and that the police officers were the ones who had attacked me. He also told them that it doesn’t make sense for a police officer to pepper spray a bus driver sitting behind the wheel.
From that moment onwards, the interrogators were nicer to me and asked me to tell them what happened. Then another lawyer, hired by the bus company I work for, called them. They told him that they couldn’t deal with two lawyers and tried to convince him that everything was fine and that they wanted to move on. He told them that he was going to submit a complaint against the two police officers who had attacked me. I gave testimony to the interrogators, and they took my fingerprints. I only told them part of what happened because I was already too exhausted.
At around 9:30 P.M., they released me without bail, after telling me that I would be required to go to another investigation if summoned. My family and the owners of the bus company were waiting for me outside. Because my eyes were swollen, everyone offered to take me to the hospital, but I wanted to go home to rest. When I got home, my kids were frightened by the way I looked and started to scream and cry. I was exhausted and my head hurt. I was afraid to shower because I knew that the water could make the burning worse.
The next morning, I wasn’t able to open my eyes, and I was taken to a HMO clinic, where they gave me an urgent referral to the St. John Eye Hospital in Sheikh Jarrah. At St. John, they washed my eyes and gave me eye drops, and now I need to avoid exposure to the sun. I am still on medical leave, and I haven’t gone back to work. What happened there was really hard for me psychologically. I might ask to move to a different bus line.
