The Israeli administrative detention order against Palestinian boy, Hamza Hammad, was renewed on Monday, 27 June for an additional four months. Hammad, 16, from Silwad near Ramallah, has been imprisoned without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence since 28 February 2016.
Hamza, an 11th-grade student, was arrested in an armed raid by occupation forces on his home at 2:00 am; his family was awakened by the explosion of their front door by occupation forces. He is the youngest Palestinian held under administrative detention and one of several children, held in Ofer prison. His father is imprisoned and serving several life sentences; Hamza has been denied permission to visit his father since his arrest in 2003.
He was previously arrested for 22 days in August 2015 and repeatedly interrogated at the Moskobiyeh interrogation center, subject to torture and ill-treatment before his release. Addameer writes that “the detention affected his health severely; he suffers from continuous backache because of all the beating, and stomach ache believed to be caused by the food he was given during the interrogation period.”
Hamza Hammad is one of over 700 Palestinians held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable military orders. Another 22 administrative detention orders have also been issued this week against Palestinians. He is also one of nearly 400 Palestinian children imprisoned in Israeli jails.
