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Home » Children »

Testimony: R.T.I.A.

 

Name: R.T.I.A.
Age: 13
Date: 13 July 2017
Location: Tuqu', West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones

On 13 July 2017, a 13-year-old minor from Tuqu' was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 2:00 a.m. and accused of throwing stones. He reports ill treatment. He reports being informed of his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He reports being released without charge 15 hours after he was arrested. 

Two days before I was arrested Israeli soldiers came to our house at around 1:30 a.m. looking for me. I was not at home and the soldiers gave my father a document summoning me to the police station in Etzion settlement the following day. 
 
Later that morning my father took me to the police station in the settlement as requested. We arrived there at around 9:00 a.m. but nobody let us in and we left at around 3:00 p.m. On the way home soldiers also stopped us at checkpoint and told my father to hand me over to the police.
 
One day later I was still awake at around 2:00 a.m. expecting the soldiers to arrest me. I suddenly heard loud banging at our front door. My father answered and a group of soldiers entered our home and asked my father for me. My father told me to come to where the soldiers were. I was terrified when I saw them. They looked like they were going to war.
 
The soldiers gave my father a document with details about my arrest and told him they were going to take me to the police station in Etzion settlement for questioning because I was accused of throwing stones at soldiers. They also told him there were confessions against me by other boys.
 
The soldiers allowed me to put my clothes on and then took me outside where they handcuffed me to the front with metal handcuffs which were not tight or painful. Then they took me to the back of a jeep where I sat on a seat. The jeep drove towards the military watchtower at the entrance to our village. At the watchtower a doctor examined me.
 
Then soldiers then blindfolded me and made me sit on the ground for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes they put me in the back of the jeep which drove for about 15 minutes to the nearby military base. I waited there on the ground in an open area until around 8:00 a.m. I could not sleep because I was scared. Then I was taken back to the jeep which drove for about 30 minutes to Etzion and I was immediately taken for interrogation.
 
The interrogator removed my blindfold but kept the handcuffs on. Before he started to question me he told me I had the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer. He then called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me to remain silent and not to confess.
 
Then the interrogator accused me of throwing stones on the main road and told me there were confessions against me. Then he showed me pictures of boys and told me they confessed against me. I denied the accusation and told him I did not know the boys. I was interrogated for about three hours. During this time the interrogator hit me on the back and chest and called me a "son of a whore". Still, I did not confess. He swore at me several times.
 
In the end he showed me a photo of a boy throwing stones and told me that boy was me. I denied that it was me. Then he changed the tone of his voice and told me he needed my help and asked me to give him names of boys who throw stones at soldiers. He said if I helped him he was going to help me. I told him I did not know any boys who throw stones and that I focus on my school work.
 
Then he printed out my statement in Hebrew and asked me to sign it but I refused. He became angry when I refused to sign. Then another interrogator walked in and signed the document. Then they took my photograph, fingerprints and a DNA sample from my mouth.
 
After the interrogation the interrogator called my father and told him to come to the police station to pick me up. Then he punched me in the face and took me outside the police station where a relative of mine was waiting and he took me home. I was released at around 5:00 p.m.