Newsletter - February 2017
Detention figures – The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has not provided updated prison statistics in accordance with a Freedom of Information (FOI) application since August 2016. According the IPS a new FOI officer was appointed in December 2016 and advised that the provision of monthly prisons statistics would resume within weeks. In February the IPS re-commenced supplying prison data but failed to disaggregate the information based on whether the detainee was Israeli or Palestinian. The IPS is now 8 months behind in the provision of prison statistics relating to Palestinians, including children, held in its facilities. More statistics
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Latest evidence: Comparative Graph - Issues of Concern - As part of MCW's monitoring programme, 13 issues of concern relating to the treatment of children in detention are tracked by reference to recent evidence. Some points to note from 100 testimonies collected in 2016 include: 51% of children report being detained at night; summonses in lieu of night arrests were issued in just 1% of cases; 78% of children report being transferred on the floor of military vehicles; 13% of children report being informed of their right to silence; 10% of children were permitted to consult with a lawyer prior to interrogation; and 60% of children report some form of physical abuse. On balance the evidence indicates that the conclusion reached by UNICEF in 2013 that ill-treatment appears to be "widespread, systematic and instutionalised" is still valid in 2017.
Comparative Graph
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Military court rejects admissibility of a statement obtained from a child denied access to a lawyer - An Israeli military court has made a precedent-setting ruling by refusing to admit a Palestinian minor’s statements to police because the police investigator denied him access to an attorney. The ruling could have far-reaching ramifications because most Palestinian minors are not allowed to speak to an attorney before their interrogation starts. The judge, Col. Yair Tirosh, permitted publication of his ruling, despite objection by the military prosecutors, Capt. Daniel Goldhammer and Lt. Na’aman Khatib. Tirosh conditioned publication on not identifying the accused. The minor’s attorney, Nery Ramati, requested disqualification of the statement, citing a case in which the Supreme Court disqualified the confession of a soldier.
Read more
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Australian diplomats appear to ignore Foreign Minister's instructions - A recent question in the Australian parliament suggests that Australian diplomats based in Tel Aviv and Ramallah have, for the past five years, ignored an instruction given by the former Foreign Minister to visit and report back on conditions for children in Israeli military courts. Following the 2011 publication of a story in The Australian newspaper ("Stone Cold Justice") about the treatment of children held in Israeli military detention, Australia's then Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, told the newspaper that he would raise reports of mistreatment with his Israeli counterpart and seek a report on conditions from Australian diplomats based in the region following their visit to the court.
Read more
_________________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony - On 26 December 2016, a 15-year-old youth from Beituniya is arrested by Israeli soldiers during clashes near the Wall and accused of throwing stones. He is released on NIS 2,000 bail nine days later. "I was arrested as I tried to run away from Israeli soldiers near the Wall where I was watching boys throwing stones. It was around 10:00 a.m. In the beginning there were no soldiers near us but within five minutes soldiers arrived and a military jeep surprised us from behind. Three soldiers stepped out of the jeep and yelled at us to stop and aimed their guns at us. I ran as fast as I could towards a nearby farm but the soldiers caught up with me and detained me."
Read more
_________________________________________________________________________________________
A soldier's video testimony: "The mood changes from one Battalion commander to the other" - In this video a former female soldier provides a testimony to
Breaking the Silence about the detaining children and old men who attempt to break through the fence into Israel. "IAs are illegal aliens, there were a lot of them ... They were mostly Palestinians, 12-13 year olds or adults over 60 and when they managed to get away and over the fence, there was a very intense chase ... it usually ended in them being arrested, humiliated and cuffed, blindfolded with cloth and brought to the base where they were told to sit on the ground. It could be 7, 8, 9 hours ... it was like they don't exist. They just sat there on the ground. No one offered them water, clearly no one gave them food."
View video
_________________________________________________________________________________________
What on earth in going on in the West Bank - And how are we letting it happen (Sarah Champion MP) - It’s cold. Really bitterly cold. The wind is whipping across the open countryside and the military compound I’m standing in is the first thing which breaks its path. It is the first week of January and I’m in Palestine, queuing to get inside so that I can see for myself the child detainees as they are processed and charged. I’m lucky. We sent my documents to the Israelis in advance and the two international lawyers I am with are well-known, so within 10 minutes we’re in. Not so fortunate are the parents who had been queuing long before we arrived. They most likely set off at five am to be there when the first case is called at nine.
Read more
_________________________________________________________________________________________