On 15 January 2014, a 17-year-old minor from Turmasayya was arrested by Israeli soldiers at 9.00 p.m. and accused of throwing stones. He reports ill treatment and being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He reports being sentenced to 3 months in prison in addition to a suspended sentence, and receiving a fine of NIS 2,000.

I was arrested on the main road at around 9.30 p.m. There were clashes and stone throwing incidents with Israeli soldiers near the entrance to our village. Suddenly a group of soldiers started to chase me. I tried to run away but they caught me. My hands were immediately tied with three plastic ties to the front: one on each wrist and one connecting the two. The ties were not painful. They also blindfolded me and made me sit on the ground for a short while until a jeep arrived. I was then put in the back of the jeep and made to sit on the metal floor.

 

The jeep drove for about five minutes before stopping at an Israeli military base near my village. I was taken to a room where I waited for about one hour. I sat on a bench and was guarded by a soldier. I was then taken to see a doctor who examined me and gave me a medical questionnaire to answer. I was then taken back to the jeep. There were soldiers in the back of the jeep who made fun of me and verbally abused me. One of them slapped me lightly on the face.

 

The jeep drove for about 30 minutes before arriving at the settlement of Binyamin. I was taken inside the police station and put in a room guarded by soldiers. They were the same soldiers who arrested me. I was able to see them from under my blindfold. I remained there until around 2.30 a.m. at which point an interrogator in police uniform came and removed the blindfold and took me to an interrogation room.

 

The interrogator sat me down on a chair and immediately started to question me. He did not inform me of my right to silence or of my right to see a lawyer or anything of this sort. He asked me for my mother’s telephone number. He called my mother and told her I was at Binyamin police station and that I was being interrogated on allegations of throwing stones.

 

The interrogator then accused me of throwing stones at the main road. He claimed I threw stones at a car and at a settlers’ bus. He also claimed I threw stones at soldiers. I told him this was not true. He told me there were soldiers who saw me. I told him this couldn’t be true. At this point he brought in the soldiers and one of them said he saw me throwing stones and accused me of lying. The interrogator threatened me and said if I didn’t confess he was going to beat me. But he never did. The interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes. At one point the interrogator brought in one of the boys who was arrested at the same time as me but he didn’t say we were throwing stones.

 

In the end the interrogator printed out a document written in Hebrew and told me it was what I had told him. He asked me to sign it and I did. I was then taken to be photographed and fingerprinted.

 

So far I hadn’t been given anything to eat but I was allowed to use the bathroom. I was taken back to the waiting room where I remained until 5.00 a.m. A soldier then shackled and hand cuffed me and put me in a troop carrier. The vehicle drove for about 30 minutes before arriving a tOfer prison, near Jerusalem. I was strip searched and taken into Section 13 where there were others my age.

 

The day after my arrest I was taken to Ofer military court. My lawyer and my mother were present. The guards allowed me to speak to my mother across the court room. The hearing was adjourned. I had six additional military court hearings. My lawyer was trying to get me a reduced sentence as I was arrested once before and was served with a four-month suspended sentence. In the end my lawyer negotiated a plea bargain of three months for throwing stones in addition to serving the suspended sentence of four months. I was also fined NIS 2,000 shekels and given an additional suspended sentence of 15 months valid for four years.

 

I served my entire sentence of nearly seven months in Ofer prison, in the West Bank. During my time in prison I studied Arabic, mathematics and other subjects. I was released on 22 July 2014.