Palestinian Child Detainees in Detention Centre

The Situation of Palestinian Child Detainees in Hasharon Detention Centre

April Briefing On 8 April 2004, our lawyer Raed Mahameed visited Hasharoon detention center. He met with two child detainees:

1.. Wesam Housheyah, 15 years, from Yamoun near Jenin, arrested on July 2003. 2.. Ribhi Mohammed Al-Khateeb, 18 years, from Hebron, arrested on August 2003, sentenced for 5 years

Incarceration Conditions:

On March, 30, the prisoners evacuated the detainees from their rooms and gathered them in the yard naked for long hours. The detainees: Maher Abu Asab, Mahdi Shadi, Mohammed Sabbah, Adel Abu Khader, Feras Jadah, and Bader Mleitat were isolated in cells. The isolated child detainees were beaten harshly. As a result, Maher Abu Asab was wounded in his head (a 10-centemetre wound). They were tortured by electricity on sensitive parts of their bodies. They are still detained in cells and their situation is deteriorating.

The detention center administration punished all the child detainees by imposing financial fines on them (200-500 NIS each), they were deprived from buying their supplies from the prison shop (Canteen), and they were denied the walk in the fresh air.

The child detainees in Hasharon are being abused systematically: verbal abuse, financial fines, deprivation of family visits, over crowdedness (3 detainees in 3.5 m square room), some of them sleep on the ground because of lack of beds, regular inspections (naked).

The 80 Palestinian child detainees in Hasharon call upon UNICEF, ICRC, and all other international organizations to interfere and press the Israeli occupation authorities to respect their rights according to the international legal standards for child protection.

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