November 23, 2009 10-year-old boy beaten and detained for 11 hours

[RAMALLAH, 22 November 2009] – DCI-Palestine fieldworkers have recently documented an incident in which a 10-year-old boy was chased, beaten and detained for approximately 11 hours by Israeli soldiers after he attended a demonstration against the Wall, in Deir Leghsoun village, north of Tulkarm, in the Occupied West Bank. At about 9:00am, on 14 November 2009, 10-year-old Husam left his house in Deir Leghsoun to attend a protest against the Wall. The Wall borders the village to the west, only two kilometres away from Husam's house. The protestors were chanting "No to the Wall," and carrying banners and flags. They reached the Wall (made up of razor wire and electrified fence in this section) and broke through a gate. Military jeeps arrived immediately and soldiers started firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets. Half an hour after the army 's violent response started, Husam and other children began to run away in different directions. Husam was hiding behind a tree when a soldier grabbed him. “I felt so scared that my legs started shaking.” The soldiers asked him to raise his hands and struck his legs for about five minutes with something resembling a horse whip. “I was shouting in pain and he would say 'Shut up! Shut up!'”. The child sustained minor injuries of which DCI has photographic evidence. The soldiers then cocked his weapon and ordered Husam to walk in front of him, aiming his weapon at the child. They walked to the main street where soldiers tied his hands with plastic cords but not tightly. Husam was then placed in the back of a jeep with a number of other boys “I was scared, wondering where they were taking us.” The vehicle stopped, in what Husam later learnt was Ariel settlement, and soldiers shouted at the boys to get out of the jeep. One of them dragged Husam out, as he did not understand the order. The boys were held for several hours and later taken to a container-like room where they slept on the floor, still blindfolded and tied. They were given military vests to keep them warm. Later on that same night Husam was put inside a jeep with two soldiers, and allowed to remove his blindfold. The driver told him "This time it's ok because you're just a kid, but those boys are going to prison... You'll be killed or go to prison if you do it again". The journey was long, it was night time. When the jeep stopped at a checkpoint, a policeman pulled Husam out and untied his hands. “I was shivering because I was cold; especially because I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt.” The police officer stopped a taxi and ordered the driver to take Husam home. Husam got home at around 10:00pm, “shocked”, “tired”, “hungry and cold”. Husam told DCI: “Now I feel scared whenever I remember what happened to me. I am scared it might happen to me again; especially because they threatened to kill me or lock me up.” DCI-Palestine strongly condemns the disproportionate use of force against unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, including children. Husam posed no threat to the soldier who beat him. In July 2008, 10-year-old Ahmad Mousa was killed when Israeli Border Police shot him in the head with live ammunition as he took part in a non-violent demonstration against the Wall in Ni’lin. For further information on Palestinian child detainees please see DCI-Palestine’s latest report: Palestinian Child Prisoners: The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities