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Home » Children »

Testimony: Y.F.M.H.

 

Name: Y.F.M.H.
Age: 17
Date of incident: 12 February 2016
Location: Jaba', West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones/Molotovs
 
On 12 February 2016, a 17-year-old minor from Jaba’ was detained by Israeli soldiers near a military checkpoint and accused of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. He reports ill treatment and being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He reports being released without charge 8 hours after his arrest. 
 
I was playing in an empty field near the checkpoint, taking pictures with my mobile phone, when I suddenly heard some voices. I turned around and saw an Israeli military jeep and a number of soldiers on foot. It was around 12:30 p.m.
 
One of the soldiers called me and asked why I was taking picture of them and I told him I wasn’t taking pictures of them. He took my mobile and searched it and another soldier hit me hard and tied my hands to the back with one plastic tie. He tightened it so hard that I screamed of pain. I was also blindfolded.
 
The soldier who took my phone away also hit me and tied my legs with a plastic tie. They dragged me for a short distance until we arrived at the checkpoint where they forced me to sit on the ground. Each time I tried to remove the blindfold a soldier would swear at me and hit me. I remained near the watchtower for hours and when I asked to use the toilet they refused. They allowed me to call my parents to tell them where I was. At around 7:00 p.m. I was taken for interrogation.
 
I was interrogated in a small room inside the watch tower. The commander immediately asked me whether I masturbated or had sex. He then asked me whether I take part in clashes and stone throwing. He asked me whether I have ever thrown a Molotov cocktail. He repeated the same questions again and again and each time I denied the accusation. He did not inform me of my rights. 
 
The interrogator slapped and verbally abused me and another soldier joined him. I was beaten so hard that I offered to become a collaborator if they stopped beating me. I was then taken outside where I sat on the ground near the watchtower.
 
At around 8:00 p.m. a female doctor examined me. A soldier was beating me when she came and she asked him to stop. She saw that my hands were swollen and had turned blue from the tie and she told me I had fever. The doctor was furious and she yelled at the soldier. She removed the tie around my legs and my wrists and gave me some glucose in the arm and told me she was going to call my family to take me home.
 
When the treatment was finished a soldier told me they were going to take me to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. He tied my hands again to the front with one plastic tie and asked me to call my parents. When I told my mother I was still being held near the watchtower the soldier kicked me hard in the stomach.
 
A short while later the commander called my parents who came and took me home. We arrived home at around 9:30 p.m.