adminIsrael is placing more and more Palestinian children in solitary confinement as part of the interrogation process, a new study reveals. The children are often blindfolded, bound and sleep deprived.Neither they nor parents know the reasons for arrest.
“Solitary confinement for detained Palestinian children was used in 21,4 percent of cases in 2013,” says the report released by Defence for Children International Palestine.
The numbers show a 2 percent rise since 2012.
The organisation took at least 98 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children between the ages of 12 to 17 in 2013 and submitted the information to UN bodies.
“The average number of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention at the end of each month during 2013 was 199,” says the organisation which took the data from the Israeli Prison Service and from Israeli army temporary detention facilities.
According to the report, detained children spent an average of 10 days of isolation, with the longest period being 28 days. It also adds that about 32 children between 12 and 15 years old were arrested at the end of each month in 2013. The highest number of detained teens of this age was in May, at 48.
In 34 out of 40 cases (85 percent), the children are detained “during the middle of the night by heavily armed Israeli soldiers” while in 38 out of 40 cases (95 percent), neither the parents nor the child were told the reasons for arrest, says the study.
Also about 76,5 percent of Palestinian children taken by Israeli troops in West Bank suffered from certain form of violence during arrest, transfer or interrogation in 2013, says the report.
“Children arrive at Israeli interrogation centres blindfolded, bound and sleep deprived,” says the study. “Interrogations tend to be coercive, including a variety of verbal abuse, threats and physical violence that ultimately result in a confession.”
The interrogation techniques are usually both mental and physical, including “intimidation, threats and physical violence with a clear purpose of obtaining a confession … and/or gather intelligence or information on other individuals”.
The majority of Palestinian children are accused of throwing stones, charges that may lead to up to 20 years imprisonment, depending on a child’s age, according to an Israeli Military Order. – RT.
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