Summary

Atzion detention centre has become a key focus for DCI concern after further harrowing reports of the systematic torture and abuse of children and adults in the centre, including the use of electric shocks and wild dogs to extract confessions.

One notable case has been the arrest and torture of 16-year old Muhammad al-Sinawi, despite the fact that he is still recovering from cancer and requires regular check-ups to monitor his condition. His case is outlined below among the case studies and DCI is campaigning for his immediate release.

Other children in the centre continue to report beatings and violence before and during interrogations. Furthermore, prisoners are being held in horrific living conditions where they are locked into tiny crowded cells for hours on end, denied basic hygiene, adequate sustenance and access to toilets.

Elsewhere, in the permanent Israeli prisons, including Ramle women's prison, deprivation and petty bureaucratic rules continue to make life extremely difficult for child inmates. In Ramle, the administration has now stopped the girls keeping or receiving any academic books and even needles and thread for embroidery work. Girls are given very little food and are kept in overcrowded conditions with few diversions.

Ofeq Hasharon criminal prison near Haifa continues to offer an exception to the general harsh living conditions of Palestinian child political prisoners. Although political prisoners are being held alongside criminal prisoners, they do have access to telephones, clean cells and leisure activities and continue to enjoy a much better standard of living than their compatriots elsewhere.

Prison Life

Atzion Military Detention Centre: Conditions at Atzion remain as horrific as in previous months with continuing allegations of torture and mistreatment from children and adults alike, children told the DCI lawyer on October 1. The cases of four current prisoners are laid out below in the Case Studies.

Apart from ill-treatment at the hands of guards and interrogators, circumstances in the centre remain totally unacceptable. Overcrowding means that around 7 prisoners are being held in cells of 2.5 x 2.5 metres, with no distinction between children and adults. All prisoners lack toiletries, warm water and adequate nutrition.

Ramle Women's Prison: On 17 September 2003, a DCI lawyer went to visit Ramle women's prison where there are 10 minors among the 68 Palestinian inmates. Deprivation and petty regulations dog the girl's lives, the latest development being a ban on academic books inside the prison and on sewing materials that help prisoners to pass the time.

The lawyer said that visiting conditions have also deteriorated further. The prison administration have installed a glass window with two mesh windows either side which means that the glass is getting dirtier and dirtier and visitors find it difficult to see the prisoners. In addition, there is only a small hole to speak through, which means that the client and the lawyer have to shout at each other to be heard. As a consequence, everyone, including the prison administration, can hear the conversation and there is no chance of client-lawyer confidentiality.

Meanwhile, conditions inside the prison remain extremely hard to bear. Food portions have been almost halved and the quality is also extremely bad. If prisoners give back the food, objecting to the quality at lunchtime, they are served the same food cold later on. Sometimes prisoners find insects in the food, girls said.

In complete contravention of Israeli civil law and international law, the prison administration has stopped prisoners being brought academic books and other books that their families (with Jerusalem ID) used to bring. Now the administration will only allow cultural books, not academic books to enter the prison, and only via the Red Cross. There is no library in the prison or educational materials to help students taking their High School Exams (Tawjihi). Prisoners who have not been sentenced are not allowed to have any books at all. As previously mentioned, the girls at Ramle do not have any formal tuition, despite Israeli legal rulings to the contrary.

The prison administration has also stopped families bringing in needles and thread for the girls to do embroidery. Prisoners are not allowed to send their previous needlework home to their families.

Other problems are:

- Severe overcrowding, with up to 8 women in each cell.
- A lack of clothes, money for the canteen, and televisions
- Overcrowding means that the incidence of skin diseases is increasing, but the prison administration will not allow prisoners to take their mattresses out in the sun to air them.
- Continual in-fighting between two groups of prisoners, encouraged by the administration, which is making life stressful for all prisoners.

Individuals: There is another pregnant woman in Ramle, 28 year old Manal Ibrahim Ghali from Tulkarem who is in her ninth month of pregnancy. After check-ups at a hospital, it seems that the child will suffer from the same white blood cell disease that her other children suffer from. Doctors plan to deliver the baby by caesarean section. However, apart from hospital visits, Manal is getting no special treatment and suffers from the same overcrowding and inadequate food as the other prisoners.

Ofeq Hasharon

On 12/9/2003, a DCI lawyer visited Ofeq Hasharon prison near Haifa, where an increasing number of Palestinian children are being kept alongside Israeli criminal prisoners because of overcrowding elsewhere. There are currently around 5 Palestinian boys in the prison including 16-year old Ahmad Saleh and 16 year-old Umar Darraj.

Boys are allowed to take classes in the prison and do sport and exercise. In addition, they are able to get paid work instead of classes if they choose. Generally conditions remain good in the prison and the children are being treated well.

Case Studies

Case 1 and Action Point: Muhammad al-Sinawi, aged 17 years old, from Azariya, was arrested 4/9/2003 and taken to Atzion military detention centre. His affidavit, taken on 18/9/2003, follows:

I, the undersigned, Muhammad al-Sinawi, holder of ID number 850956467 from Azariya, advised by the lawyer Muhammad al-Ghazawi to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, or face legal proceedings, state the following:

1) I declare that I am 17 years old, the only son of my mother who is 54 years old. My father is married to another woman.
2) On 4/9/2003 at 1 am in the morning, Israeli occupation forces came and arrested me on charges of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and took me to the Ma'ale Adumim police station.
3) The same day, they arrested my father (who is 86 years old) and my brother (from my father), but they released them after one hour.
4) When I was arrested my mother started to scream at the soldiers saying my son is sick. How can you arrest a sick person? She gave them medical reports but they didn't listen to her and they took the reports and tore them. Then they started to wreck my room and my belongings.
5) When I got to the detention centre, four policeman who were wearing civilian clothes started to attack me. They aimed punches and blows at my face, my hands, my legs and feet.
6) After they had beaten me, they tied my hands and legs with cuffs and then opened my legs with force and hit me on and around my private parts. Then a soldier pulled me by my hair and gave me electric shocks by putting electric cords on my body. I felt the current flow into all parts of my body.
7) They brought a big savage dog near to me in order to scare me.
8) The police asked me to take my clothes off. I started to take my clothes off but before I finished they told me to stop.
9) While all of this happened, I was being subjected to continual abuse and swearing.
10) The interrogators refused to translate the gist of the statement. They grabbed my hand with force and forced me to sign the statement.
11) After I was arrested I started to feel bad and I felt sharp pains in my chest. I asked them to bring a doctor to the prison and they really did, but he looked at me without examining me and told me to drink a litre of water a day.
12) Before I was arrested I had suffered from severe medical problems for a number of years, including cancer (of the lungs, limph gland and blood).
13) Because of my illness, I had been treated over two years previously in al-Amal Oncology hospital in Jordan. I stayed in hospital for a year and a half. At the same time I was given chemotherapy which made my hair fall out. I was also taking Cortizone tablets. I used to take 12 tablets at once whilst I was having chemotherapy.
14) Because of my illness, I had to travel to Jordan to the al-Amal Oncology hospital for check-ups and to complete my treatment.
15) On 20/9/2003, I had a hospital appointment to follow-up my treatment, but because I had been arrested I didn't go and I didn't receive any treatment.
16) Before I was arrested, I used to go to a private clinic in Azariya and I was in almost daily contact with the hospital in Jordan.
17) Since my arrest, my treatment has been stopped and I haven't taken any tablets or medication or received any treatment.
18) Also before my arrest, I was receiving treatment at al-Maqased hospital. I had blood tests done there in order to establish how much cancer remained in my blood.
19) The situation in prison is extremely difficult; there are around 5-8 people in every cell and the cells are extremely small. There is a very faint light and the room is very dark, it is also quite damp.
20) We are offered only small quantities of food, and the quality is very bad, so lunch is usually some soft cheese, a little bit of rice and a bit of chicken -all for five people. Dinner is leftovers from breakfast and lunch.

Case 2: Mus'ab al-Hur, aged 16 and Sa'ed Ghunaimat, aged 18

Mus'ab and Sa'ed were arrested on 30/9/2003 at 4pm from Sureef. At their arrest they were beaten, particularly during the journey to Atzion detention centre in a military jeep. Then Israeli soldiers threatened them by putting a machine gun into one of their mouths to make them confess. They are still being held in Atzion.

Case 3: Rukan Abd Ayed Nasrat, aged 13, from Jericho

Rukan was arrested on 28/9/2003 at midnight at Ma'ale Adumim checkpoint. He was then taken to Ma'ale Adumim settlement and interrogated. He was beaten during the interrogation by Israeli soldiers and then moved to Atzion detention centre. For two days, Rukan was kept in solitary confinement in a cage. After that he was put into a cell packed with other prisoners. A DCI lawyer went to visit him on 30 September 2003. He said that Rukan is having a particularly tough time because of his young age and the very harsh conditions in the centre.

Defence for Children International/Palestine Section is an independent, Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in other international instruments. For more details see www.dci-pal.org