Violent Arrests in Nablus region

Violent Arrests in Nablus region

04 August 2005, 14:00 Israel Time

One man, who was injured in a recent attack by Israeli settlers during which he suffered a head injury, was beaten and arrested. His brother was also beaten and arrested, accused of throwing stones. The entire arrest process was very violent and other family members were also harmed.

Yesterday at about noon in Madama village in the Nablus region an Israeli army jeep approached two shepherds, Amir and Maamun Nassar. Amir was beaten by the soldiers and arrested. Maamun ran back to his family’s home to report the incident.

Fourteen soldiers reached the home of the Nassar family. Mamun was beaten. He fainted and was dragged to the jeep. The family members begin to scream and the soldiers then tied up the residents including the mother. The solders threw gas grenades and the home eventually became filled with smoke. One of Maamun’s sister’s pants were burned when a shock or gas grenade was thrown towards her while she was carrying his four month old baby away from the home and gas and into a neighbor’s house; when she returned she too was handcuffed. A cow owned by the family died, possibly from the smoke.

The entire incident transpired over the course of about two hours.

Amir Nassar, aged 19, has been located by Hamoked and is being held at Qedumim detention center in the West Bank. He is suspected by the army, it seems, of throwing stones. Maamun Nassar, aged 32, was missing until about 13:45 today. He was then located and is in the emergency room Hadassa Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem. Maamun was injured recently when he was attacked by Israeli settlers who beat his head- since then he has had trouble speaking and may have suffered some serious damage.

This arrest process was once again very violent, with much of the violence being targeted against civilians who were never even arrested. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has repeatedly warned in the past regarding the extreme levels of violence used by the Israeli army during arrests and has condemned these actions.

In addition, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is concerned by the fact that it cannot yet locate the second man who was arrested, especially given his possibly fragile mental health status due to his injuries.

The army continues to violate human rights and does not prosecute those responsible for abuses during arrests- neither those actually involved nor those at the command level. These abuses are illegal both according to Israeli and international law. This environment of impunity can only make the situation worse.

Previous release on this issue-

Press release from January 2005 “The army must end the abuse of Palestinians during arrests”: http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=87&catid=57&pcat=46&lang=ENG

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