Center for the Defence of the Individual - HaMoked: Center for Defence of the Individual appealed to the Border Police Commander, calling him to investigate a case in which border police officers abducted a Jerusalemite minor: the officers held the minor for ten days, during which they interrogated, beat and humiliated him, without notifying anyone of the arrest
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חזרה לעמוד הקודם
02.02.2009

HaMoked: Center for Defence of the Individual appealed to the Border Police Commander, calling him to investigate a case in which border police officers abducted a Jerusalemite minor: the officers held the minor for ten days, during which they interrogated, beat and humiliated him, without notifying anyone of the arrest

In a letter dated 21 January 2009, HaMoked demands that the Border Police Commander investigate the arrest of a 17 year old boy from the Ras al‘Amud neighborhood in East Jerusalem, who was arrested by border police officers on the morning of 4 January 2009, when he was on his way to school in Al 'Eizariya . Border police officers stopped the bus the boy was on, and pulled him off. Two days later, when he still had not returned home, his parents contacted HaMoked asking for help finding their son.

In an attempt to find the boy - who had called his parents and told them he was under arrest, but did not specify who was holding him and where he was - HaMoked contacted the police, the Israeli Prison Service, the border police and the military, and stressed their legal obligation to notify the relatives of a detainee of the arrest itself as well as of the detainee's whereabouts. Despite this, all the official bodies HaMoked contacted denied holding the minor. As all the attempts to locate the boy had failed, HaMoked filed a pre-petition with the State Attorney's Office, in which it proclaimed its intention to file an urgent petition with the High Court of Justice. On 14 January 2009, ten days after his arrest, and before HaMoked filed the petition, the boy was thrown out of an army jeep at the Qalandiya checkpoint.

The minor's testimony, collected by HaMoked, indicates that after his arrest he was taken on a humiliating journey to an unknown destination, where he was interrogated regarding a stone throwing incident, in which, according to the officers who abducted him, he had participated. After he denied involvement in the incident attributed to him, the investigator applied psychological pressure. Throughout this time period, the minor was held in a room which had no natural light and lacked sanitary facilities, while the officer who had arrested him kept guard. The officer also initiated brief telephone conversations between the minor and his family, via speakerphone, during which the officer repeatedly warned the boy against revealing who was holding him, and where he was.

To view the letter to the Border Police Commander dated 21 January 2009 (Hebrew)

To view the letter to the State Attorney's Office dated 22 January 2009 (Hebrew)   

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