Alert: Save the Hares Boys: 5 Palestinian children face life imprisonment with no evidence for no documented crime

9 July 2013

The following content is taken from The Hares Boys campaign website, a critical resource on an important case about the criminalization of Palestinian youth, the devastation of imprisonment, apartheid military courts, and occupation injustice. For additional information, updates and action alerts: http://haresboys.wordpress.com

The website also contains an important analysis of racist Israeli media coverage and a call to action.

Mohammad Suleiman, Ammar Souf, Mohammed Kleib, Tamer Souf, and Ali Shamlawi are five boys from the Palestinian village of Hares, who are being held in Israeli prison charged with 25 counts of attempted murder for alleged stone-throwing, with no evidence whatsoever. The boys have been labelled as “terrorists” before any objective investigation even took place. They’ve been condemned in the Israeli media as guilty even before they “confessed” to stone-throwing under torture. They’ve been denied any sort of justice in the Israeli military court system that convicts Palestinian children at a 99.7% rate, not unlike that of the world’s worst totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

The car accident

At around 18:30 on Thursday 14 March 2013, a car crashed into the back of a truck on Road 5 in Salfit Governorate, occupied Palestine. The driver and her 3 daughters were injured, one of them – seriously. The driver, Adva Biton, was going back to the illegal Israeli settler colony of Yakir when the accident occurred. She later claimed the accident was due to Palestinian youth throwing stones at her car. The driver of the truck, having testified immediately after the accident that he had pulled over because of a flat tyre, later changed his mind and said he had seen stones by the road.

There were no witnesses to the car accident. Nobody had seen any children or youth throwing stones that day.

The arrests

In the early hours of Friday 15 March 2013, masked Israeli soldiers, some with attack dogs, stormed the village of Hares, which is close to Road 5. More than 50 soldiers broke the doors of the villagers’ houses, demanding the whereabouts of their teenage sons. Ten boys were arrested that night, blindfolded, handcuffed, and transferred to an unknown location. The families were not informed of their sons’ alleged wrongdoings.

Two days later, a second wave of violent arrests took place. At around 3 o’clock in the morning, the Israeli army, accompanied by the Shabak (the Israeli secret service), entered the homes of 3 Palestinian adolescents. They had a piece of paper with their names in Hebrew. After forcing all the family members into one room, taking away their phones so that they wouldn’t call for help, and interrogating them, the soldiers handcuffed their sons, all aged 16-17.

“Kiss and hug your mother goodbye,” a Shabak agent told one boy. “You may never see her again.”

A week later, Israeli army jeeps again entered the village and arrested several boys, who had just come back home from school. The soldiers lined all of them up, including a 6-year-old, and threatened at gunpoint their uncle who pleaded for the soldiers to at least release the youngest children. The army then randomly chose 3 boys, handcuffed them behind their backs, blindfolded them, and took them away. The families were not informed about either the allegations against their children, or their exact location.

In total, 19 boys from the neighbouring villages of Hares and Kifl Hares were arrested with relation to the settler car accident. None of them had previously had any history of stone-throwing. After violent interrogations, most of the minors were released, except for five, who remain in Megiddo, an Israeli adult prison. These are the Hares Boys.

The interrogation

The arrested boys were subjected to a series of abuse and ill-behaviour that accounts as torture. Upon detention, they were kept in solitary confinement for up to two weeks. One boy, since released, described his cell: a windowless hole 1m wide and 2m long; there was no mattress or blanket to sleep on; toilet facilities were dirty; the six lights were kept on continuously, leading to the boy losing track of the time of the day; the food made him feel ill. The boy was denied lawyer; he was interrogated violently three times during three days, and eventually released after found not guilty at the trial.

Other boys have also told their lawyers of very similar treatment. They “confessed” of stone-throwing after being repeatedly abused in prison and during interrogations.

The charges

The five boys from Hares are charged with 25 counts of attempted murder each, apparently 1 count for every alleged stone thrown at passing cars. The Israeli prosecution insists that the boys consciously “intended to kill”; they are asking for the maximum punishment for attempted murder: 25 years to life imprisonment.

The prosecution’s case relies on the boys’ “confessions”, which have been obtained under torture, and 61 “witnesses,” some of which claim that their cars have been damaged by stones on that same day on Road 5. The latter only appeared after the car accident got a lot of media coverage as a “terrorist act”, and the Israeli prime minister Benyamin Natanyahu announced, after the boys’ arrest, that he “caught the terrorists that did it”. Other “witnesses” include the police and the Shabak, who were not even present at that location at the time. It is not clear whether the 61 “witnesses” have been properly questioned and their claims verified with CCTV footage, hospital admission data, or even if the alleged damage to their vehicles has been photographed or otherwise documented. Such information is not even available to the boys’ attorneys.

The implications

If the boys are convicted, this case would set a legal precedent which would allow the Israeli military to convict any Palestinian child or youngster for attempted murder in cases of stone-throwing.

The boys are now 16-17 years old. If the Israeli military get their way, the boys would only return to their homes and their families at the age of 41 – at best. Five young lives ruined with no evidence of their guilt is a spit in the face to our common principles of justice as human beings.

New Hunger Strike Update from Addameer and Information on all Striking Prisoners

9 July 2013

Since our latest update several days ago, there have been a number of developments in Palestinian hunger strikers’ cases. Addameer’s newest report is below, followed by additional updates:

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association issued the following statement on July 9 with the latest updates on striking prisoners:

9 July 2013 – Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association can confirm 12 individual hunger strikes in Israeli prisons.

Ayman Hamdan has been on hunger strike for 73 days in protest of his administrative detention. Initially he was held in isolation in Ofer Prison as punishment for initiating a hunger strike, but has since been moved to Asaf Haroveh Hosptial where his health continues to worsen. Ayman’s brother Ahmad engaged in a one week hunger strike from 24 June – 1 July in solidarity with his brother.

Imad Batran has been on hunger strike for 64 days in protest of the extension of his administrative detention for an additional 6 months. According to his lawyer, Ahlam Haddad, he has lost 26 kilograms and is suffering from several health problems. Despite this, he continues to be shackled to his bed at Assaf Haroveh Hospital at all times. He is currently only drinking water and taking salt and sugar.

Ayman Tabeesh has been on hunger strike for 48 days in protest of his administrative detention as well. He is currently held in Ramleh Prison Hospital. Ayman’s brother Mohammad Tabeesh also started a hunger strike in solidarity with his brother. Mohammad is a former administrative detainee who is now serving an 18 month sentence. Mohammad, who has been on hunger strike for 28 days, is continuously subjected to beatings by the prison guards at Ofer and has been moved from isolation in Megiddo Prison to Jalameh Prison, where he is currently detained.

Adel Hareebat has been on hunger strike for 48 days in protest of the renewal of his administrative detention order, which was confirmed for an addition 4 months on 23 May 2013. As punishment for engaging in a hunger strike, he was moved to isolation in Ofer Prison until his health condition deteriorated to the point that he had to be moved to Ramleh Prison Hospital. The prison hospital doctor told Adel that his hunger strike is putting his life in danger due to his other health conditions, however an appeal submitted by his lawyer against his administrative detention was rejected by the military court.

Husam Matir, who is serving a life sentence, was moved into isolation in Askalan Prison for starting a hunger strike 39 days ago. His main demand is that he be recognized as a prisoner of war.

Five of the prisoners who hold Jordanian citizenship also continue to be on hunger strike for 69 days and are in very dangerous health conditions. Abdallah Barghouthi is currently being held in Afoula Hospital. Mohammad Rimawi, Munir Mar’ee and Alaa Hammad are all held in Sukora Hospital and Hamza Othman is held in Ramleh Prison Hospital.

Addameer can also confirm the hunger strike of Iyad Abu Khdeir started his second hunger strike on 7 June 2013 in protest of his continued detention despite the completion of his 8 year sentence. Iyad’s first hunger strike was for 22 days from 13 May – 3 June 2013.

Awad Sa’eedy also engaged in a hunger strike for 15 days from 20 June to 5 July 2013 in protest of his isolation in Ayshel prison. Awad has been held in isolation since April 2012 as a punishment during the mass hunger strikes in April and May 2012. Awad suspended his strike on the promise that he will be removed from isolation and detained in Hadarim Prison.

Khaled Hroub, who had been on hunger strike since June 15, ended his hunger strike earlier in the week. Hroub had demanded to be placed with his brother Younis, also imprisoned by the Israeli occupation. Younis Hroub will be released today, June 9, from administrative detention in Negev prison. Younis earlier conducted a 66-day hunger strike demanding his release from administrative detention. He was previously arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 2002 and served six and a half years. He was re-arrested on July 10, 2012 and held in administrative detention.

Hussam Mattar, who has been on hunger strike for 39 days, was transferred on July 9 from isolation in Ashkelon prion to the Ramle prison clinic. His wife reported that he is suffering from her husband is suffering from severe pain in the head and kidneys, as well as poor vision and heart disease.

See the following updated chart (data from Palestinian Prisoners Society) on the hunger strikers and the date they launched their strikes:

Palestinian prisoner’s name	Date of Hunger Strike
Ayman Issa Hamdan	04/28/2013
Muneer Mari	05/02/2013
Abdullah Barghouti	05/02/2013
Alaa Hammad	05/02/2013
Mohammad Rimawi	05/02/2013
Hamza Othman Al-Dabbas	05/02/2013
Imad Batran	05/07/2013
Adel Hareebat	05/23/2013
Ayman Al-Tabeesh	05/23/2013
Hossam Mattar	06/01/2013
Mohammed Al-Tabeesh	06/12/2013
Eyad Abu Khudair	06/17/2013

Occupation military court charges Palestinian women for popular protest against settlements

9 July 2013

OFER MILITARY COURT (AFP) — An Israeli military court formally charged two Palestinian women on Tuesday for their involvement in a peaceful demonstration in the West Bank last month.

In a hearing at Ofer military court near Ramallah, Nariman Tamimi, 37, and Rana Hamadah, 21, who also holds Canadian nationality, were charged with “entering a closed military zone” during a demonstration in Nabi Saleh, where villagers have been protesting since 2009 over the seizure of their lands by a nearby settlement.

Both pleaded not guilty.

According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, the two were part of a group of around 25 people who participated in a peaceful demonstration on June 28 which was stopped by a group of Israeli soldiers and border police as they crossed a field near the village.

After a five minute standoff during which the forces informed them the area was a closed military zone, the group turned around and headed back towards the village, said B’Tselem’s Sarit Michaeli, who was videoing the protest.

“A group of five or six of them were just walking back when suddenly they were stopped and three of them were arrested,” she said.

The two women and a Spanish national were then driven around in the back of a jeep for most of the day, and taken to a police station around midnight.

Security forces released the Spanish woman but drove the other two to HaSharon, where they were held until late on Monday night, Michaeli said.

“This particular demonstration did not involve stone throwing,” she told AFP, explaining that despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the military prosecution initially asked for the two to be held until the end of legal proceedings in a step she described as “disproportionate”.

The court rejected the request, but a judge ruled that Tamimi, a mother of four who is married to veteran Nabi Saleh activist Bassem Tamimi, would be placed under house arrest every Friday. She is next due in court on September 3.

Hamadah, who is studying in Canada and is also facing obstruction charges after trying to prevent the forces from handcuffing her, was also barred from entering the village on a Friday. Her next hearing is on July 17.

Almost all demonstrations in Palestine are defined as “illegal” under Israeli military law, which states that any gathering of 10 or more people requires a permit.

Dirar Abu Sisi facing medical neglect, held in isolation for over two years

9 July 2013

The Palestinian Prisoners Society warned about the serious health condition of Palestinian prisoner Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, who is held in isolation. Abu Sisi was the deputy director of the power plant in the Gaza Strip, who was abducted by the Mossad from the Ukraine, where he was visiting the family of his Ukrainian wife, on February 18, 2011. He has been held in solitary confinement since that time.

On July 9, PPS said that Abu Sisi, who is currently held in Eshel prison, is facing a policy of medical neglect as well as poor living conditions. He has been isolated in sections with criminal Israeli prisoners, and suffers from severe pains due to acute inflammation and bleeding in his teeth and he has not been provided with necessary treatment.

Abu Sisi also suffers from stomach ulcers, shortness of breath, kidney problems, high blood pressure and migraine, the PPS added.

Israeli occupation engages in raids, detentions, beatings of Palestinians

9 July 2013

The Palestine Information Centre reported that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped during the last 24 hours two Palestinian citizens and raided commercial stores in Jenin.

Local sources reported that the IOF kidnapped on Monday a young man named Adham Abdul Rahman in Al-Aroub refugee camp as he was on his way to attend a court hearing held against his brother.

The IOF also raided last night Al-Aroub refugee camp and ransacked the house of Nawwaf Asharif.

A Palestinian citizen was also taken prisoner after violent raids on commercial stores at dawn in Barta’a village near Jenin.

In another incident, Israeli soldiers brutally beat Issa Amro, coordinator of youth against settlement group, near the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Eyewitnesses said that Amro suffered severe injuries all over his body in the attack.

The Centre also reported that Israeli occupation authorities held Sheikh Falah Nada, a Hamas leader, in administrative detention on Tuesday one day after his arrest from his village Qarawat Bani Hassan to the west of Ramallah on July 7.

Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with the Tadamun foundation for human rights, said that Nada, 54, was released from IOA jails on 4/12/2012 after 24 months of administrative detention and has now returned to administrative detention without charge or trial.

Family of prisoner Mohamed Abdul Rab reports deteriorating health

9 July 2013

The Palestine Information Centre reported that family of Palestinian prisoner Mohamed Abdul Rab, from Qabatiya town, expressed fears over the deterioration of his health condition as a result of his exposure to medical neglect by the Israeli administration of Eshel jail, on July 9.

Islam, the brother of the prisoner, told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that his brother suffers from severe stomach pains and has already undergone several surgeries without any progress.

Islam noted that his brother, 38, has served 10 years of his 24-year sentence, but during this long period of his detention he has not received any accurate diagnosis of his medical condition.

He appealed to human rights group to intervene to send a specialized doctor to diagnose his condition and provide him with the appropriate medication.

Negev prisoners raided by armed unit

9 July 2013

negev The Palestine Information Centre reported that members of the Israeli prison service’s Rapid Response Unit (Keter) burst into Palestinian prisoners’ rooms in Negev jail on Monday night, June 8.

Riyadh Al-Ashkar, the director of the Palestine prisoners’ center for studies, said that Keter unit members broke into ward 24 and conducted a large-scale search operation in room 3.

He said that he received a phone call from Negev prisoners on Tuesday morning saying that the unit members forced out all 12 administrative detainees held in this room and detained them in the laundry room before searching the room thoroughly damaging prisoners’ belongings in the process.

Ashkar said that the one hour search ended with the confiscation of prisoners’ books and special documents in addition to a small heating device.

The center appealed to international organizations to protect Palestinian prisoners from occupation’s crimes and to stop jailors’ provocations especially with the advent of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

My life at Guantánamo

8 July 2013

A detainee at the US prison explains that hunger striking is the only way left to cry out for life, freedom and dignity. From Al-Jazeera.

by Moath al-Alwi

Moath al-Alwi is a Yemeni national who has been in US custody since 2002. He was one of the very first prisoners moved to Guantanamo, where the US military assigned him the Internment Serial Number 028.

A month ago, the guards here at Guantanamo Bay gave me an orange jumpsuit. After years in white and brown, the colours of compliant prisoners, I am very proud to wear my new clothes. The colour orange is Guantanamo’s banner. Anyone who knows the truth about this place knows that orange is its only true colour.

My name is Moath al-Alwi. I have been a prisoner of the United States at Guantanamo since 2002. I was never charged with any crime and I have not received a fair trial in US courts. To protest this injustice, I began a hunger strike in February. Now, twice a day, the US military straps me down to a chair and pushes a thick tube down my nose to force-feed me.

When I choose to remain in my cell in an act of peaceful protest against the force-feeding, the prison authorities send in a Forced Cell Extraction team: six guards in full riot gear. Those guards are deliberately brutal to punish me for my protest. They pile up on top of me to the point that I feel like my back is about to break. They then carry me out and strap me into the restraint chair, which we hunger strikers call the torture chair.

A new twist to this routine involves the guards restraining me to the chair with my arms cuffed behind my back. The chest strap is then tightened, trapping my arms between my torso and the chair’s backrest. This is done despite the fact that the torture chair features built-in arm restraints. It is extremely painful to remain in this position.

Even after I am tied to the chair, a guard digs his thumbs under my jaw, gripping me at the pressure points and choking me as the tube is inserted down my nose and into my stomach. They always use my right nostril now because my left one is swollen shut after countless feeding sessions. Sometimes, the nurses get it wrong, snaking the tube into my lung instead, and I begin to choke.

The US military medical staff conducting the force-feeding at Guantanamo is basically stuffing us prisoners to bring up our weight – mine had dropped from 168 pounds to 108 pounds, before they began force-feeding me. They even use constipation as a weapon, refusing to give hunger strikers laxatives despite the fact that the feeding solutions inevitably cause severe bloating.

If a prisoner vomits after this ordeal, the guards immediately return him to the restraint chair for another round of force-feeding. I’ve seen this inflicted on people up to three times in a row.

Even vital medications for prisoners have been stopped by military medical personnel as additional pressure to break the hunger strike.

Those military doctors and nurses tell us that they are simply obeying orders from the colonel in charge of detention operations, as though that officer were a doctor or as if doctors had to follow his orders rather than their medical ethics or the law.

But they must know that what they are doing is wrong, else they would not have removed the nametags with their pseudonyms or numbers. They don’t want to be identifiable in any way, for fear of being held accountable someday by their profession or the world.

I spend the rest of my time in my solitary confinement cell, on 22-hour lockdown. The authorities have deprived us of the most basic necessities. No toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, soap or towels are allowed in our cells. If you ask to go to the shower, the guards refuse. They bang on our doors at night, depriving us of sleep.

They have also instituted a humiliating genital search policy. I asked a guard why. He answered: “So you don’t come out to your meetings and calls with your lawyers and give them information to use against us.”

But the prisoners’ weights are as low as their spirits are high. Every man I know here is determined to remain on hunger strike until the US government begins releasing prisoners.

Those of you on the outside might find that difficult to comprehend. My family certainly does. If I’m lucky, I’m allowed four calls with them each year. My mother spent most of my most recent call pleading with me to stop my hunger strike. I had only this to say in response: “Mom, I have no choice.” It is the only way I have left to cry out for life, freedom and dignity.

This article was translated from Arabic by his attorney, Ramzi Kassem.

Beit Ommar Activist Brutally Arrested While Protecting Daughter-in-law, Granddaughter

7 July 2013

From the Palestine Solidarity Project: 8 JULY 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mousa Abu Maria (English and Arabic): 0598-139-590

At approximately 2am in Palestine, 15 Jeeps of Israeli forces invaded Beit Ommar, seeking to arrest the son of Ahmed Abu Hashem, an active member of the Beit Ommar Popular Committee and PSP. Just yesterday, at approximately 1pm Palestine time, Ahmed’s daughter-in-law and niece of PSP Co-founder, Yasmin Abu Maria, gave birth to a baby girl. When the Israeli military forced their way into Ahmed’s home, they entered to room of the newly-recuperating mother and her young daughter with weapons drawn, terrifying the young family. When Ahmed tried to intervene to protect his daughter-in-law and new granddaughter he was attacked and violently beaten by Israeli forces. Ahmed and his son Mohammed were arrested and taken away.

PSP will update as more information becomes available.

Mohammed has been arrested several times in his young life, and was a focus of a previous Defense of Children International-Palestine report.

Ahmed’s home has been a continuous target of Israeli aggression, and Ahmed himself has often been targeted because of his commitment to the popular resistance and talent for documenting IOF aggression.

Full report here:

http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2013/07/08/breaking-news-activist-ahmed-abu-hashem-and-son-mohammed-brutally-beaten-and-arrested-by-israeli-forces/

For Palestinian prisoners, Ramadan is a time of deprivation and struggle

7 July 2013

Former prisoner Rafat Hamdouna, director of the Center for Prisoners’ Studies, said that Ramadan for Palestinian prisoners will take place amid continuous violations of prisoners’ rights. Hamdouna noted that there is a long record of prison administrators’ interference and disruption of worship in the month of Ramadan, denying prisoners’ access to the general prison yard for evening prayers and failing to provide a prison chapel, despite the fact that full religious services and accommodation are provided to all Jewish criminal prisoners in occupation prisons. The prison administration provides irregular mealtimes and they often prevent the introduction of religious books during Ramadan.

In addition, the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners reported on July 6 that the Israel Prison Services refused the request to increase the amount of money in their canteens that prisoners would be able to receive from their families for the month of Ramadan. The ministry had requested that monthly family contributions be permitted to increase to 500 shekels per prisoner. Canteen products are often necessary purchases because of the low quality and/or absence of essentials provided by Israel Prison Services. The canteen is overpriced, far above the going costs in Palestine ’48 or the West Bank and operated for-profit by an Israeli corporation, Dadash.

Riad Al Ashqar of the Palestine Prisoners Centre for Study said that the occupation has annually engaged in cell and ward raids and inspections during Ramadan, increased the use of isolation and denied isolated prisoners the right to participate in collective religius functions, transferring prisoners from prison to prison. Ashqar pointed out that many prisoners in some detention centres and isolation cells are not informed of iftar and suhoor times, and they cannot see the sun or sunset, or hear calls to prayer. Ashqar noted that Ramadan comes this year as a number of prisoners are opn open hunger strike and facing seriously ill health, as well as ongoing medical neglect and abuse against Palestinian prisoners. Ashqar demanded that the occupation stop obstructing the entry of prisoners’ requests during Ramadan, such as dates and olive oil.

All called for international vigilance and remembering the Palestinian prisoners at Ramadan, taking action to defend them against abuse and denial of their religious rights, and calling for their freedom.

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