Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Gilad Shalit is free – now release the 164 jailed Palestinian children...

At 2am on 6 July, Ahmed, a 15-year-old boy from the village of Burin, in the occupied West Bank, was up late socialising with relatives. "Suddenly, many [Israeli] soldiers stormed the house," he recalls. "We were surprised to see them. They started shouting at us and ordering us into the living room."

The teenager, who was told he was "wanted for interrogation", was blindfolded and taken to a detention centre on the outskirts of Nablus, where he says he was verbally abused, shoved and kicked, and threatened with a dog. Whenever he tried to sleep, an Israeli soldier would kick him to keep him awake. Interrogators accused Ahmed of throwing stones. He was then transferred to the Megiddo Prison in Israel, where he was strip-searched on arrival.

Ahmed's story is one of dozens of case studies collated by the charity Defence for Children International. At the time of writing, according to figures released by the Israel Prison Service, there are 164 Palestinian children aged between 12 and 17 incarcerated in Israeli jails, including 35 minors aged between 12 and 15. As many as 700 Palestinian children are prosecuted each year in Israel's military courts; more than 7,000 have been detained since 2000. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. 423 Palestinian kids suffering in Israeli jails...
  2. Palestinian girl tells how her parents were killed...
  3. The betrayal of Gilad Shalit or the power of the tongue...
  4. How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones...
  5. Israeli soldiers walk free in Gaza human shield case...

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