As children around the world head back to school, our thoughts are with Palestinian children who spent their summers locked up in Israeli detention centers and prisons. Many remain behind bars now, unable to join their classmates on the first day of school.
» Help us secure the release of Palestinian children locked up in Israeli military detention.
Ahmad B., 15, from the southern West Bank is currently in Israeli custody. In mid-July, Israeli soldiers arrested him from his home in the middle of the night.
“They kicked me all over my body,” Ahmad said, in his sworn testimony. “They insulted me, my mother, and my sister.”
During the course of his detention, Ahmad was physically assaulted and humiliated. He was detained in conditions that would be unsuitable for any prisoner, let alone a minor.
He eventually signed a confession document in Hebrew, a language most Palestinian children do not understand.
"He [the interrogator] threatened to withdraw my father's work permit if I did not confess," Ahmad said.
DCIP lawyers are currently working on his behalf, providing free legal services and defending Ahmad before Israeli military courts.
» Support our lawyers so we can defend Palestinian child detainees like Ahmad.
In no circumstance should children be detained or prosecuted under the jurisdiction of military courts. However, as a minimum safeguard while Palestinian children continue to be detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, we need your support to help end ill-treatment, physical violence, and other forms of abuse.
