Three Palestinian children in Ofer prison imprisoned without charge or trial

palestinian-children-arrested-jerusalemThree Palestinian children are currently held in Ofer prison without charge or trial under administrative detention: Ahmed Nimer, Louay Nairoukh and Hamzeh al-Silwadi.  They are among 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable; as of April 2016, 13 children were imprisoned in administrative detention. There are approximately 350 total Palestinian children under the age of 18 currently imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Nearly all Palestinian children arrested by Israeli occupation forces are subject to physical or psychological torture, including threats against family members, kicking and hitting and other forms of abuse.

A Palestinian Prisoners’ Society lawyer, Jacqueline Farraja, said on Thursday, 18 August that a 16-year-old prisoner in Etzion prison, Ahmad Yousry Maswadah of al-Khalil, was assaulted by Israeli occupation forces with a rifle and electric shocks while blindfolded and taken away by a military vehicle, noting that he continues to suffer pain in his hands from the attack.

Farraja noted that five more Palestinians in Etzion were attacked by Israeli soldiers: Rashid Musa Sleibi, 19; Saher Ibrahim Ghatasha, 38; Abdallah Ziad al-Rajabi, 31; Hazem Tariq Hadoush, 20 and Mohammed Khalaf al-Sabah, 25.

Palestinian children can be held up to 90 days under interrogation, and are more frequently subjected to solitary confinement in an attempt to induce confessions under interrogation. “Israeli authorities apparently use isolation to create a psychologically compelling situation for the child detainee, and then vulnerability increases when access to legal counsel is denied,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at Defence for Children International Palestine. “The practice of using solitary confinement on children, for any duration, is a clear violation of international law, as it amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and in some cases, torture.”