ill-treatment and torture of a 10 year-old boy by Israeli soldiers

Physical and psychological ill-treatment and torture of a 10 year-old boy/ Threats and excessive use of force when interrogating the family/ Destruction of property

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Brief description of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Defence for Children-Palestine section, member organisation of OMCT SOS-Torture network, about the physical and psychological abuse amounting to torture of Ezzat Hajli, aged 10 years, by Israeli soldiers on 11 June 2008 in the village of Sanniriya, Occupied Palestinian Territories. Seeking information on the location of a handgun, the soldiers repeatedly beat Ezzat in various parts of his body in his father’s shop and then in the family house, used excessive force when interrogating Ezzat’s family including younger siblings and destroyed family belongings.

According to the information received, on 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7 years old) and sister Lara (8 years old) were in their father’s shop in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers harshly entered the shop. One soldier wearing a black T-shirt started shouting in a loud, menacing voice in Arabic, “your father sent us to you to collect his gun”. Terrified, Ezzat responded that his father does not own a gun. The soldier responded by slapping Ezzat hard across the right cheek and his brother Makawi across his face. The soldier then ordered Makkawi and Lara to leave the shop. Once the younger children had left the soldier demanded once again that Ezzat handed over his father’s gun. Although Ezzat repeated that his father did not own a gun the soldier ordered him to search for it in the shop. Ezzat kept insisting that there was no gun in the shop so the soldier slapped him once again, this time across his left cheek. Some Ezzat’s friends and local people tried to enter the shop but were prevented from doing so by a soldier at the door.

When the soldier in the black T-shirt asked the boy once again to produce the gun, Ezzat answered, “We do not have anything”. The soldier reportedly responded by punching him hard in the stomach causing Ezzat to fall over. Ezzat started screaming and crying out from pain and fear. The soldier in the black T-shirt started making fun of Ezzat and imitated him crying. Ezzat remained in the shop alone with the soldiers for a further 15 minutes when the soldier in black abruptly grabbed him by his T-shirt and dragged him out of the shop. Ezzat asked the soldier if he could lock up his father’s shop but the soldier said he wanted it to remain open so that it could be robbed. The soldier also threatened to put Ezzat in his jeep and take him away.

Once they were out of the shop, Ezzat was reportedly ordered to walk in front of the soldiers to his house, whilst a gun was pointed at his back. The soldiers hit him several times on the nape along the way. On approaching his house Ezzat saw many Israeli military officials surrounding the house and a number of green military vehicles parked outside. One of the olive coloured jeeps had the word “police” written on it.

After arriving at the family’s home the soldier in the black T-shirt allegedly stood Ezzat in the yard and ordered him to search the flower basin for the gun. Before Ezzat had a chance to respond the soldier slapped him so violently that Ezzat fell down face first into the basin. Without giving him the chance to stand up the soldier grabbed him by his T-shirt and lifted him up roughly. He was then instructed in Arabic by another soldier to head to the guestroom.

According to the same information received, on approaching the guestroom Ezzat could see his father standing by the door. The soldier slapped him on the neck and Ezzat fell to the ground. As Ezzat stood up the soldier slapped him a second time, which made him fall to the ground once again. All this happened in front of his father. He then grabbed Ezzat by his T-shirt and lifted him in to the air. The soldier told Ezzat’s father that he was going to take his son to prison. He also threatened to take Ezzat’s 19-year-old sister to prison. Ezzat was then pushed forcibly in to the guest room where his mother and four of his other siblings including his sisters Diana (19 years old), Raghda (18 years old), Aya (15 years-old) and brother Jihad (3 years old), were being held. His mother was crying. Ezzat was also crying and when asked by his mother why he was crying, he said it was because he had been hit by the soldiers. His mother asked the soldiers to stop beating her son and to beat her instead.

After several minutes Ezzat was taken out of the guestroom and slapped several times by the soldier in black, once so hard that he fell to the ground. After being moved to several locations in the house Ezzat was told to stay in the boys’ bedroom. The same soldier then left the room but returned every five minutes to slap Ezzat and also to punch him several times in the stomach. Each time this took place Ezzat shouted and screamed out in pain and started crying. The soldier then imitated him and made fun of him. The soldier hit him around six times.

A short time later, five soldiers entered the room and proceeded to destroy the family’s property using hammers. In all, the soldiers destroyed wooden ventilation panels in the attic, a small refrigerator in the bedroom and its contents, damage to the kitchen, a fan and the fireplace.

Ezzat reportedly spent one hour in the bedroom alone with the soldiers. In that hour he was ordered by the same soldier to stand on one foot for half an hour, with his back against the wall and with both his hands lifted up in the air. Ezzat was exhausted but was too scared to put his foot down on the ground. Eventually he was told by one of the other soldiers that he could put his foot down. He was then asked to sit down in a squat position. He managed to remain in this position for two minutes and then had to stand up. A female soldier then walked into the room and asked him to sit on the refrigerator box.

According to the information received based on Ezzat’s testimony, shortly after the soldier in the black T-shirt returned accompanied by Ezzat’s older sister Diana. The soldier asked again to tell him where the gun was hidden and that if he told him where it was he would not tell Ezzat’s father. The soldier left the room with Ezzat’s sister. He then returned to the room on his own and hit Ezzat all over his body. He left the room once again and after a while came back offering Ezzat 10 Shekels in return for telling him where the gun was. Ezzat responded that he did not care about money. This made the soldier extremely angry and he took off his helmet and started throwing it at Ezzat from two metres away. Ezzat was in extreme pain. The soldier continued to hit him with the helmet and then left the room once again returning to slap him across his face and on his stomach. This continued for some time with the soldier leaving the room and returning to hit Ezzat and to question him over the gun.

Ezzat then witnessed the soldier in the black T-shirt and the female soldier leading his sisters and mother to one of the rooms close to the boys’ bedroom. They closed the door of the room but Ezzat could hear the soldiers shouting at them. He overheard the soldier telling the female soldier to hit his mother because she was refusing to take her clothes off to be searched. After the incident was over Ezzat’s sister informed him that they were all strip searched by the female soldier, while the male soldier waited outside.

Meanwhile, a soldier wearing black sunglasses reportedly entered the bedroom in which Ezzat was being held. He walked in pointing a rifle, a few centimetres away from Ezzat’s head. Ezzat was so terrified that he began to shiver. The soldier laughed and made fun of him. He asked Ezzat to tell him where the gun was and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t. Ezzat continued to maintain that there was no weapon hidden away. The soldier, getting agitated shouted at Ezzat and saying: “For the last time, tell me where the gun is before I shoot you". Ezzat repeated that he did not have a gun. Hearing this, the soldier lowered his rifle and left the room. After about five minutes the soldier in the black T-shirt entered the room along with four other soldiers and said that they were leaving but would return.

The soldiers spent two and half hours in the house in total. After the incident Ezzat spent the night at his uncle’s house because he was too scared to sleep in his home. As a result of the physical assault Ezzat lost two of his molar teeth and is deeply shocked by the incident. He has received medical care. Until now Ezzat’s family did not lodge any complaint but wish doing it. In this regard, they are in contact with the lawyers of DCI-Palestine. They did not receive any compensation for the sufferings and the destruction of their belongings.

The International Secretariat of OMCT expresses its deep concern about the acts of torture and ill-treatment suffered by Ezzat Hajli and the excessive use of force against his family. OMCT would like to recall that Israel is a State party to the UN human rights treaties including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which prohibit torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against children. In line with their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended Israel in its last Concluding Observations (CRC/C/15/Add.195) to “investigate effectively all cases of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by police officers or other government officials and bring the perpetrators to justice” and to “pay full attention to the victims of these violations and provide them with opportunities for adequate compensation, recovery and social reintegration”.

Action requested

Please write to the authorities in Israel urging them to:

1. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of Ezzat and his family;
2. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into these events, notably the acts of torture, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
3. Guarantee that adequate compensation is awarded to Ezzat and his family;
4. Ensure the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Addresses

• Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, Office of the President, 3 Hanassi St., 92188, Jerusalem, Israel. Tel: +972 2 6707211. Fax: +972 2 5610033. Email: president@president.gov.il
• Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Telephone: +972 2 6753277. Telephone2: +972 2 6753547. Email: eulmert@knesset.gov.il
• Meir Sheetrit, Minister of Interior, Israeli Ministry of the Interior, 2 Kaplan Street, Qiryat Ben-Gurion, PO Box 6158, 91061 Jerusalem, Tel: +972 2 670 1411 / +972 2 629 4722, Fax: +972 2 670 1628, Email: sar@moin.gov.il
• Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Ministry of Defence, 37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel, Fax: +972 3 691 6940, +972 3 696 2757; +972 3 691 7915. Email: minister@mod.gov.il

Please also write to the embassies of Israel in your respective country.

Geneva, 8 July 2008

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.