May 21, 2010



RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Hiba Masalha, a Palestinian lawyer who visited child-prisoners at the Majedo and Rimonim prisons said that a number of them were subjected to barbaric torture before being questioned or charged.



Masalha said on Thursday that she met with 17-year-old Ahmad Farouq Jaara from Nablus who was arrested on 14 January 2010 at the Za'tara roadblock. He told her that he was subjected to a harsh interrogation at Betah Tekva detention centre where he was tied to a stool with both hands and feet tied. He was interrogated and tortured for 21 days causing his health to deteriorate.



She also met with 16-year-old Salama Abdel-Jawad from the Askar refugee camp who was arrested at the Hamra roadblock on 14 February 2010. He told her that on his arrest the soldiers kicked and beat him mercilessly using rifle butts bruising him all over and causing him to bleed from the face and legs.



She also said that Mahmoud Yaziji, 16 years, from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, told her that he was arrested at the Erez crossing by special forces who beat him severely, causing bruises all over his body. He was detained for one whole night at the crossing before he was taken to Askalan prison.



Meanwhile, 16-year-old Atef Jaradat, from Sair, in al-Khalil told the lawyer that IOF troops arrested him on 2 February 2010 him to the Keryat Arba settlement where he spent one night. He was then taken to Atsion detention centre where he was interrogated while tied to a stool in the cold and under the rain, during the interrogation an interrogator going by the name of Imran, beat him on his face, his arms and legs, then gave him electric shock making him fall each time he was subjected to the electric shock. He is also being denied family visits since his arrest.



Masalha also met with Muhammad Rashid Abu Shahin (16 years), from the Balata refugee camp, who told her that he was arrested on 3 January 2010 on the Hamra roadblock where he was manhandled and beaten by the occupation soldiers using rifle butts. He was then taken to the Hawwara detention centre where the interrogater used a plastic pipe to beat him with so that he confesses. The child is suffering chronic back pain as a result of being hit on the spine. He has not been provided with any medical attention apart from being given pain killers.



Zakerya Waddah Awada, 16 years, from Nablus told her that he was arrested on 2 March 2010 and that IOF troops beat him up inside the military jeep. At the Hawwara detention centre soldiers took him out of his cell during the night to the yard where he was forced to strip naked and stand in the cold for the rest of the night. He was denied visits since his arrest.









