Rights Group Demands Axon Halt Taser Sales to Israel Over Torture Claims

A joint investigation by The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism revealed testimony from four former detainees who described being restrained and subjected to electric shocks. One survivor, an amputee, recounted being shot with rubber bullets and tased while held at the Ofer military prison in the West Bank. Another survivor reported that guards doused his body with water to intensify the agony of the electric discharge, leaving him with lasting visual impairments and neurological spasms.

These accounts align with findings from the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which noted a sharp rise in the use of electric shock devices for sexualized torture since October 2023. Despite documented abuses—including cases at the Sde Teiman detention camp where military charges against five soldiers were later dropped—Axon reportedly continues to market its latest hardware to Israeli security agencies. The civil rights organization is now calling on the US Department of Commerce to enforce stricter export oversight to prevent American-made technology from fueling human rights violations.