The Al-Moskobiya, Moscobiyeh, Muscovite or Moscovia Detention Centre is an Israeli detention and interrogation facility and prison in the

Russian Compound The Russian Compound (; ; ) is one of the oldest districts in central Jerusalem, featuring a large Russian Orthodox church, the Russian-owned Sergei's Courtyard and the premises of the Russian Consulate General in Jerusalem, as well as the si ...

West Jerusalem West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by ...

. The center is used to interrogate Palestinian detainees and prisoners from a variety of age groups, including children. It has been described by activists and human rights organizations as being notorious for underground dungeon cells and harsh methods of torture.

History

During the British Palestine Mandate the center was known as 'the central prison'. It has been claimed by

Addameer Addameer (), officially Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (), is a Palestinian NGO based in Ramallah. Addameer monitors the treatment of Palestinian prisoners arrested in the West Bank by Israel and the Palestinian Author ...

, a Palestinian NGO, that the prison especially became notorious due to its harsh torture techniques throughout the 1980s. In 1990, it was reported that the jail was used mainly for

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

fighting Israeli occupation of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. Both the Moscovia Detention Centre and the nearby

Museum of Underground Prisoners Museum of Underground Prisoners is a museum in Jerusalem, commemorating the activity of the Jewish underground—Haganah, Irgun and Lehi—during the period leading up the establishment of the State of Israel. History of the building Russ ...

are yellow brick buildings that were built as part of a complex of hostels and a green-domed church for pilgrims by the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

in the 1860s.

Popular culture

In 2017 a documentary by director Raed Andoni was released called ''

Ghost Hunting Ghost hunting is the process of investigating list of reportedly haunted locations, locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has e ...

'' ( ''Iṣṭiyād ʾAšbāḥ''). The movie, which explores the trauma of former prisoners of the Detention Center, was first screened in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

for an audience consisting for ninety percent of former prisoners.

References

{{Authority control Israel Defense Forces Prisons in Israel Buildings and structures in Jerusalem Russian Compound