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Home » Children »

Testimony: R.U.O.R.

 

Name: R.U.O.R.
Age: 15
Date: 19 November 2023
Location: Aida refugee camp, West Bank
Accusation: Throwing Molotov cocktail

On 19 November 2023, a 15-year-old minor from Aida refugee camp was arrested after handing himself in at a military checkpoint following a telephone summons. He reports ill treatment and being denied his right to consult with a lawyer prior to interrogation. As of July 2024, he remains in detention awaiting sentencing.  

Two days before I was arrested Israeli soldiers came to our neighbourhood at around 3:00 a.m. They did not arrest anyone. Two days later a military officer phoned my father and told him they were in the neighbourhood but did not want to raid our house because there were women and children present and they did not want to scare them. He told my father I had to hand myself over by 15:00 at Checkpoint 300. He told my father he would arrest him and my brother if I did not turn myself over. He then spoke to me and told me the same thing. I was scared that he might arrest my father and brother and decided to go to the checkpoint as ordered. 
 
I went to the checkpoint with my father. As soon as I arrived a soldier handcuffed and shackled me. The handcuffs and shackles were tight and I was in pain. Then he blindfolded me. They kept me and my father in the rain until around 5:00 p.m. My father remained with me for about two hours. They made me sit on the ground and my father sat on a chair. 
 
After about two hours I was taken to Atarot police station, in East Jerusalem. I was taken in a military jeep and I sat on the metal floor. My father sat on a seat. The drive took about two hours because they stopped many times on the way. When we finally arrived at the police station, and as soon as my father got off the jeep, the soldiers beat me on my body and head. They also beat me on the gun shot wound I received about a month before my arrest. I was in severe pain. They also struck me on my side with the back of their guns. They focused on the side where soldiers had shot me with dumdum bullets during the same incident. I still have shrapnel in my body. Then I was taken to an interrogation room.
 
The interrogator told me I was being audio-visually recorded. He pointed up but I was not sure it was a camera. They allowed my father into the interrogation room with me. They told him he was allowed to stay but he was not allowed to speak. The interrogator did not tell me I was allowed to consult with a lawyer but he told me I had the right to remain silent. The interrogator showed my father some video footage and asked him to identify me in the footage but my father did not. 
 
After the interrogation I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem, where I was strip searched before being taken into section 13. At Ofer I was examined by a doctor but I was not given the medication I needed for my gunshot wounds which I took when I was at home. I did not have any medication since May. My leg hurts and I am unable to stand on it. I spent most of my time in prison sleeping.
 
I was interrogated nine times over nine days. My father sat in the first one only. I was handcuffed and shackled during the interrogations. They blindfolded me on the way to the interrogation centre and removed the blindfold during the interrogation. 
 
When I needed to use a toilet during one of the interrogation sessions, I was not allowed to use one. I was beaten during the interrogations. One interrogator threatened to raid our home, search it and arrest my father. They swore at me and called my mother and sister “whores”. I was terrified and so worried about my family that in the end I confessed. 
 
I never spoke to a lawyer before the interrogation sessions. The first time I saw a lawyer was in the military court over a video call. At the fifth interrogation session, the interrogator told me I could speak to a lawyer, but I did not have a number for a lawyer. I asked to speak to my father and I was allowed to speak to him once. The phone call lasted for a few seconds and then the interrogator cut off the line. 
 
Each interrogation was at a different time. Once I was interrogated at midnight and the interrogation lasted until 4:00 a.m. I was tired and sleepy. Another time I was interrogated from 4:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. I was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail. When I finally confessed, I identified myself in one of the videos that the interrogator showed me. I was taken back to Ofer after each interrogation.
 
I have not been sentenced yet.