On 22 May 2014, a 17-year-old minor from 'Abud was arrested by Israeli soldiers outside his school at 10:00 a.m. He reports ill treatment and being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He reports being sentenced to 4 months in prison and fined NIS 500.

I go to school in the nearby village of 'Abud. At around 10:00 a.m. on 22 May 2014, I was chatting with some friends outside the school after finishing a physics exam. As I was heading home to study for my next exam I saw some masked boys and young men running down the hill towards me. I think they were running away from Israeli soldiers after throwing stones at them. I then heard someone shout 'soldiers, soldiers are in the village’. When I saw the soldiers myself I thought it might be better to get out of the way so I hid next to a stone wall on the side of the road.

 

A military jeep went by and four soldiers got out and came running towards me. One of the soldiers grabbed me and took me to the jeep. He verbally abused me and called my mother a "whore" and cursed God. He pushed me into the back of the jeep where I sat on a seat. I tried to explain to the soldier I was going home from school and showed him my school books. He snatched my books and my calculator from my hand and threw them out of the jeep.

 

Once inside the jeep I was blindfolded and hand tied to the front with one plastic tie. The tie was very painful and left marks on my wrists for a long time. The jeep drove towards the nearby military camp near Abud. At the camp I was taken out of the jeep and made to sit outdoors in the sun from around 11:00 a.m. until around 5:00 p.m. I was given some hot water to drink but no food.

 

At around 5:00 p.m. I was taken in a jeep to the police station inside Binjamin settlement. On the way to Binjamin I was kicked and slapped. I was still blindfolded so I couldn’t see when they were about to slap or kick me. The trip took about 30 minutes. They made me sit on a chair in a courtyard before taking me for interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore a police uniform. He told me to confess to throwing stones. He told me if I confessed and apologised I would be released. If I did not confess I would 'eat shit’. I understood that he meant that I would be in deep trouble if I did not confess. The interrogator spoke fluent Arabic and told me his name was "Ghadban", which in Arabic means 'angry’. He removed the blindfold but kept me tied. He asked me if I had a lawyer. I told him I didn’t. He did not inform me of my right to silence. He had a tape recorder on the desk which he turned on.

 

The interrogator told me that the soldiers had seen me with two masked young men. He said they saw the two men run away in one direction and I ran away in the opposite direction. He asked me why I ran away. I told him I was scared when I saw the soldiers in the village. The interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes. The interrogator swore at me calling my sister and my mother "whores". He threatened to put me in prison for 12 months. He wanted to scare me so I would confess. He showed me a document written in Hebrew and asked me to sign it. I thought I had to sign the document so I did although I didn’t understand what it said. The interrogator allowed me to use the bathroom but I didn’t because a soldier wanted to go inside the bathroom with me.

 

The interrogation was over by around 6:30 p.m. I was then photographed and fingerprinted and taken to see a doctor who examined me. After the medical examination I was taken in a jeep which drove for about two-and-a-half hours before it arrived at Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. The jeep stopped somewhere on the way but I didn’t know where because I was blindfolded. At Ofer I was searched and given prison clothes which were too big for me. I didn’t have to strip for the search. I was then taken to Section 13 where I was put with other young people.

 

Four days later, on Monday, I spoke to a lawyer from a cage. The lawyer assured me I was going to be released within days. The following day I was taken to Ofer military court. My uncle and brother were in court. I didn’t understand anything of what went on in the military court. The translation wasn’t clear and the interpreter spoke in a low voice. I had about 12 to 15 military court hearings, each time the hearing was adjourned.

 

In one of the hearings I was almost released on bail. The court wanted NIS 5,000 in bail but the deal fell apart - I am not sure why. My lawyer appealed and asked for the soldiers who claimed they saw me throwing stones to be brought to court for cross examination. The interrogator gave his testimony in court but I didn’t understand what he said because he spoke in Hebrew. A soldier falsely testified that he saw me throwing stones with two other masked boys.

 

In the end, and after many military court hearings, I told my lawyer I wanted a plea bargain. I wanted to get done with the whole thing because I was afraid they might treat me badly and give me a high sentence because of the war in Gaza. I was afraid of revenge. My lawyer successfully negotiated a plea bargain of four months in prison and a fine of NIS 500.

 

My parents did not visit me in prison because they were not granted a permit. No permits were granted to family members during the war in Gaza.

 

I was released on 7 September 2014. I went home with somebody from the nearby village and arrived home at around 8:00 p.m. My parents told me they were not informed of my arrest until the evening of the day when I was arrested. Someone from the authorities told them I was being held in the settlement of Modi’in. My parents went to look for me in Modi’in but didn’t find me. They became very worried and thought I may have been kidnapped or killed.

 

I hold an American passport and my parents contacted the American Consulate and reported my arrest but they said there was nothing the Consulate could do. In prison I was allowed to study Mathematics and Arabic.