Name: O.A.
Date of arrest: August 2011
Age: 16
Location: Gaza City
Nature of incident: Detention 

In August 2011, a 16-year-old boy from Gaza City is arrested by Palestinian police and accused of sodomy.

O.A. lives in Gaza City. About 10 months ago, he was arrested and accused of having sexual relations with another boy. “At the time of my arrest, I was working with my brother laying tiles in Beit Hanoun,” says O.A. “The father of a 16-year-old boy from Beit Hanoun arrived with some policemen and started beating me. They accused me of having sexual intercourse with the boy.” 

“I was surprised when the child pointed at me and said: 'this is the one who had sex with me,'”, continues O.A. “Then, his father started beating me. He hit me with the scale on my back and legs. The policemen kept watching without intervening. After that, the policemen put me in the jeep and transferred me to the Beit Hanoun Police Station.” 

O.A. was interrogated by two officers. One of them, O.A. was later told, was a relative of the 16-year old boy accusing him. “The officer, called Abu Saddam, accused me of having sex with the boy and I denied it. Every time he accused me and I denied it, he would slap me and repeat the accusation. Then, he heated up a copper rod and asked me whether or not I had had sex with the other boy. I said no, and he burned my arm with the rod. I cried out loud and shouted. The pain was so harsh I could not bear it.” 

The interrogator then placed a mobile phone next to O.A. and said the interrogation would be recorded. “‘If you deny that you did it, I'll burn you,’ he said, so I said yes to everything. I also signed around six papers without knowing their contents. Then, he took me to another room, where a man in civilian clothes tied my hands behind my back with a rope and forced me to sit in a chair. He also tied my feet to another chair. I could not move.” O.A. reports the man started hitting him on his legs and feet with a stick and the barrel of his rifle. “I could not feel my body. I was numb,” he says. “My legs started shaking and bleeding. Then, he brought water and poured it on the floor. He ordered me to stand so my feet would cool off. Meanwhile, the officer was filming the scene with his mobile phone.”

O.A. was taken back to the interrogator, who asked him once again: "Did you do it to the child?" When O.A. denied the accusation, “he kicked me in my stomach so hard I fell and vomited blood. I could not stand it any longer. The police took me to Beit Hanoun Hospital nearby.” 

O.A. was treated at the hospital. The following day, he was taken to the prosecutor's office in North Gaza. “Both my hands were tied with two sets of handcuffs to a pipe inside the jeep. They kept me standing the entire time. My hands were hurting because of the handcuffs,” O.A. recalls. After meeting the prosecutor, O.A. was transferred to Abu Obaida prison, where he was detained for 75 days with adults. Then he was transferred to Dar al-Rabe'a centre. “The lawyer told me to plead guilty, and I did as he told me,” says O.A. “I haven’t been sentenced yet.” 

O.A. reports his lawyer filed a complaint against the police station. However, according to his brother, the officers who burned him and ill-treated him have not been fired. “I confessed because of the beating and the burning. I still have burn marks on my body.” And he adds: “When I get released, I will go back to school and make something out of myself. I miss my family, my friends and my neighbourhood. I regret this incident. It has changed my entire life.” 

9 May 2012