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Home » Children »

Testimony: M.K.A.M.

 

Name: M.K.A.M.
Age: 15
Date: 7 August 2017
Location: Tuqu', West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones

On 7 August 2017, a 15-year-old minor from Tuqu' was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 2:30 a.m. and accused of throwing stones. He reports ill treatment and being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He reports being released without charge 1 week after he was arrested. 

I was studying late at night when I suddenly heard loud banging on our front door. It was around 2:30 a.m. I woke my father up who then answered the door and a group of Israeli soldiers entered our home. They told my father they had come to arrest me because I was accused of throwing stones at soldiers. The commander gave my father a document with details about my arrest and told him they wanted to question me at the police station in Etzion settlement.
 
The soldiers allowed me to put my clothes on and then took me outside where they tied my hands to the front with one plastic tie which was very tight and painful. Then they took me to the back of a jeep where I sat on a seat. Just before getting inside the jeep I was blindfolded. Inside the jeep I complained about the tie and a soldier replaced it with a looser tie.
 
The jeep drove towards the military watchtower at the entrance to the village where I was examined by a doctor. The doctor removed the blindfold and asked me some questions about my health and then put it back on. Then I sat on the ground for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I was taken back to the jeep which drove for about 15 minutes to a nearby military base. At the base I was left on the ground in an outdoor area until around 7:00 a.m.
 
At around 7:00 a.m. I was driven in a jeep for about 30 minutes to the police station in Etzion settlement. At Etzion the soldiers made me stand for a long time and the weather was very hot. During this time some soldiers kicked and slapped me and called me a "son of a whore". I asked the soldiers to allow me to sit down but they refused and I was so exhausted and hot that I passed out. Soldiers sprayed me with water and I regained consciousness. Then they gave me some water and allowed me to sit on the ground. About 30 minutes later I was taken for interrogation.
 
The interrogator removed the blindfold and the tie and allowed me to speak to a lawyer. The lawyer told me not to confess and to remain silent and not to sign any documents. After speaking to the lawyer the interrogator did not inform me of my right to silence but told me I had to confess. Then the interrogator accused me of throwing stones at soldiers and told me other boys had confessed against me. I denied the accusation and asked him to name the boys but he did not and I realised he was not telling the truth. When I denied the accusation he became very angry and called me a "son of a whore" and slapped me. Then he showed me a photo and told me the person in the photo throwing stones was me. I denied it and told him it was not me. He interrogated me for about three hours.
 
At the end of the interrogation the interrogator printed out my statement in Hebrew and asked me to sign it but I refused based on the lawyer’s advice. Then they took my photograph, fingerprints and strip-searched me. I was then taken to a cell for about two hours.
 
After two hours my legs were shackled and I was handcuffed to the front. I was put in a troop carrier which took me to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. At Ofer I was strip searched again and taken into Section 13.
 
The following day I was taken to Ofer military court. My parents were not in court because they were not notified and the hearing was adjourned.
 
After court I was taken for another interrogation this time by an intelligence officer. He did not inform me of my rights. The intelligence officer repeated the same accusation and I continued to deny it. He told me there were seven confessions against me that I threw stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers. I denied the accusations. He questioned me for about 30 minutes.
 
I was released on 13 August 2017, before the date of my second military court hearing. I was not charged and did not have to pay any money. I went home by myself and I don’t know whether my file had been closed or not.