Testimony: T.A.R.I.
Name: | T.A.R.I. |
Age: | 17 |
Date: | 15 February 2023 |
Location: | Kafr Malek, West Bank |
Accusation: | Throwing stones/Molotov cocktails |
On 15 February 2023, a 17-year-old minor from Kafr Malek was arrested by Israeli soldiers at 2:00 a.m. from home. He reports ill-treatment and being denied his basic legal rights under Israeli military law. He was sentenced to 8 months in prison and fined NIS 3,500. He also received a suspended sentence.
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The soldiers searched our house and damaged my bed and some items in the kitchen. About 20 minutes later the soldiers took me outside without giving my parents a document explaining my arrest. By the door a soldier tied my hands behind my back with three plastic ties: one on each wrist and a third one connecting the two. The ties were tight and left marks on my wrists. Then I was blindfolded and taken into the back of a military jeep which was waiting outside the house.
One of the soldiers called me "a son of a whore" and then pushed me on the metal floor of the jeep. Other soldiers kicked and slapped me and swore at me. I was taken to Ofra settlement where I was left in a shipping container until around 7:00 a.m. I was not given any food or water but I was allowed to use a toilet. During this time soldiers kicked me and swore at me.
At around 7:00 a.m. I was taken to the police station in Binyamin settlement. At the police station I was taken into a cage and I was left there for about two hours. Then a soldier removed the blindfold and took me for interrogation.
The interrogator was wearing an Israeli police uniform. He did not allow me to speak to a lawyer but told me I had to answer him with a yes or no. He did not inform me of my right to silence. He accused me of throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail. He gave me a date and place and told me soldiers had testified against me. I denied the accusations.
Then the interrogator became angry. He shouted at me and told me I had to confess. He accused me of lying and sarcastically told me if I did not confess he was going to take me to "hotel Ofer". He questioned me for about one-and-a-half hours. At the end he called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me I should not confess and should not speak. When I told the lawyer I had already been interrogated the line was cut off. The call lasted for less than a minute and the interrogator was listening. Then the interrogator read out my statement in Arabic and then asked me to sign a document which was written in Hebrew. I signed because what he read out to me was accurate.
Then I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem, where I was strip searched before being taken to section 13.
Two days later I was taken to Ofer military court. My father was there and my detention was extended. I had five more hearings. At the last one I was sentenced in a plea bargain to eight months in prison and fined NIS 3,500. I also received another six months in prison suspended for five years as well as a NIS 10,000 bond. My father and my lawyer encouraged me to accept the plea bargain and I did. I was sentenced about six weeks before I was to be released.
I spent my prison sentence at Ofer where I attended classes in Arabic, Hebrew and Mathematics. I found the classes boring. I also exercised. I had five family visits and I was allowed to call home once every two weeks from a telephone provided by the prison authorities.
I was given an early release. I was released at Beit Sire checkpoint on 13 September 2023. My parents were not informed about my early release, so no one was waiting for me at the checkpoint. I took a taxi to Ramallah and then called my father who picked me up and took me home. I arrived home at around 7:00 p.m. I was so excited to finally be home.
I don’t go to school anymore; I work with my father in construction. The prison authorities never gave me back my identity card.