Haaretz noted that because it was impossible to prove which guards delivered the fatal blows, prosecutors chose to charge the 12 guards who entered Abu Asab's cell with the relatively lesser offense of causing death by negligence.
The female guards waiting at the cell door were questioned as suspects, but no indictment was prepared against them.
It was reported that some of the defendants lied during questioning, at times claiming that it was a routine operation aimed at controlling prisoners.
One prison security guard who was put on trial said in his statement:
— "There was nothing unusual. I don't think any of us used force; we go in, establish control and leave."
A member of the prison security force said of what happened in Asab's cell:
— "It was kind of routine, so we didn't report the incident to anyone. From the perspective of senior commanders, it was perfectly fine. That was the policy."
After Asab was killed, one guard wrote to a friend:
— "News of a prisoner's death is about to reach the press. He died when we went in. There was serious beating going on, but this is WhatsApp, you can't explain it here."
Female guard Eliga wrote to her boyfriend Tamer Tarudi, a guard in the women's security prisoners' wing at Damon Prison, after Asab's death:
— "My love, latest update, he just died."
Eliga added that she was "very happy and satisfied" but that things were now getting chaotic, that "a lot of blood had been spilled" and that "they had broken the prisoners."
She continued:
— "It'll be fine. I'm glad it happened. I'm willing to risk my career for this. My conscience is very clear. All of ours are. The commander knew something like this would happen. He told us this in the briefing and asked anyone who felt they couldn't do it to speak up because he really wanted to break them. I'm really fine, but you know, investigations and all that nonsense."
