Name: Ahmad R.
Date of arrest: 20 May 2011
Age: 17
Location: Azzun, occupied West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones

On 20 May 2011, a 17-year-old boy from Azzun, in the occupied West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers from the family home at 1:30 am, and accused of throwing stones.

‘At around 1:30 am I was sleeping when I woke up to the sound of a stun grenade fired into our yard by Israeli soldiers,’ recalls Ahmad. ‘Then we heard soldiers speaking through loudspeakers and ordering everyone in the house to come out. We came out and saw them pointing their weapons at us. They were shouting at us. They ordered my parents and sisters to stand apart from the males. Then they ordered us males to approach them one by one. They then ordered us to take off our clothes. We were naked as the day we were born. They ordered us to turn around before approaching them. When we approached the soldiers they made us squat beside each other. After searching us they allowed us to put our clothes back on. Immediately afterwards they tied our hands behind our backs with one set of plastic cords. They also blindfolded us.’ Ahmad’s father was informed that they were taking Ahmad to Petah Tikva interrogation centre inside Israel for questioning.

Ahmad was then led to a military vehicle for transfer. ‘One of them pushed me inside and I fell on the metal floor. I couldn’t see anything because I was blindfolded. There were many soldiers inside the truck. They started punching and kicking me hard all over my body. One of them was hitting me hard with the barrel of his rifle,’ says Ahmad. ‘The truck started travelling while the soldiers were still beating me. One of them was grabbing me from the shoulder and dragging me over the metal floor and that caused me a lot of bruises. Once, one of them hit me so hard on the head I started screaming because of the pain, and then he kicked me, which made me vomit. One of the soldiers also tightened the ties and I felt my hands had swollen up and then I couldn’t feel them anymore.’

At around 7:00 am the vehicle arrived at the settlement of Zufin. ‘The truck stopped and I couldn’t stand up,’ recalls Ahmad. ‘One of the soldiers pulled me hard and dragged me to the door. He stood me there and pushed me out so hard I fell to the ground on my face. Both my nose and mouth started to bleed. I also vomited blood. I was then taken to a doctor. When he saw me in that condition, he asked the soldiers to immediately untie me. He asked them to transfer me to hospital and he didn’t allow them to tie my hands.’ 

Ahmad remained in hospital until about 10:00 pm the following night, before being transferred to Ofer prison. On arrival at Ofer he was strip searched. Ahmad reports being detained at Ofer for six days without receiving any further medical attention. On the fourth day of his detention, Ahmad was questioned by an interrogator from Petah Tikva and accused of throwing stones, based on another person’s confession. Ahmad denied the accusation.

After six days, Ahmad was transferred to Megiddo prison inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

1 June 2011