TITLE: DCI/PS Expresses Grave Concern Over Continued Detention of 14-year old

AUTHOR: Sanaa' Amer

ORG: DCI/PS

DATE: March 17, 2001

On 14 March 2001, after being forced to wait three hours at the gate of Ramle Prison, Defence for Children International/Palestine Section's lawyer met with four Palestinian female detainees. There are currently 6 Palestinian female detainees in Ramle Prison and two of these are children under the age of 18. Four of them are being held in the same room in the Criminal Compound while two, Abeer and Sanaa' Amer, are in the Isolation section. According to DCI/PS' lawyer, the detainees complained about the following conditions in the prison: · Conducting searches of the room during which personal belongings of the etainees have been taken. Detainees have been harassed by Prison Guards during these searches. · Detainees have been barred from visits by their relatives leading to extreme frustration, as they have no contact with the outside world and are not able to obtain items they need. Detainees report a shortage of clothes, especially amongst new detainees who do not receive any clothes from the prison administration and are thus forced to swap their personal belongings with criminal prisoners in order to receive clothes. · Detainees are prevented from using the library and a parcel of books sent from Ashkelon Prison was refused by the Prison Administration. There is a delay in receiving newspapers of up to 2-weeks and detainees are not allowed to receive or send letters. · Detainees do not trust medical personnel in the prison because they do not receive proper treatment and patient-doctor confidentiality is not maintained. DCI's lawyer spoke with Sanaa' Amer who was arrested on 20 February 2001 in Al Shuhada Street, Hebron. Sanaa', 14 years old, was with her sister Abeer at the time of her arrest. Abeer has been accused of planning to stab a settler with a knife. Sanaa' is a student in the 9th grade of the United Nations School in Dura, in the Hebron region. She gave the following affadavit to DCI's lawyer: "I was arrested on 20 February 2001 at 12 noon in Al Shuhada Street, Hebron. I was with my sister Abeer. We left home together and went from Dura to Hebron. In Shuhada Street I was standing away from my sister at the end of the street. Suddenly she went towards a settler and the soldiers arrested her. I was talking to a journalist about what happened and a soldier came and grabbed my arm and took me to a military jeep. He hit me on my right cheek with a strong blow and to such an extent that my ear hurt for one week. In the jeep there were two soldiers in the front and two in the back. I was in the back, and they were shouting in Hebrew and occasionally swearing in Arabic. After that they took me to Kiryat Arba settlement where they fingerprinted me and recorded my personal details. "After that I was taken to an interrogation room where there were two men dressed in civilian clothes. One of them spoke in Hebrew and another in Arabic and they accused me of carrying a knife in my bag and planning with my sister to stab a settler. The man who spoke Arabic hit me and grabbed me around my neck. He hit me on my elbow using something that was on the table and as result bruised my arm [the bruising was witnessed by DCI's lawyer]. After about 1-1 1/2 hours they took me out of the room and I sat on a chair outside the room. "At about 9pm in the evening they took my sister and I to the Russian Compound Detention Centre. Following the transfer to the Russian compound they put us in one room. We were exposed to harassment from policemen and were kept there for 19 days. We spent all the time in the room and were allowed outside only one hour each day. Only my father visited us on Eid al Adha. "After that they transferred us to Ramle Prison on Sunday 11 March. Nobody has been able to visit us and we are now in the isolation section. We haven't received any clothes or other necessities. We sleep on a mattress without a pillow. There are just two thin blankets that are not enough to keep us warm. They informed us that we would stay in this section until they arrange a room for us. We are now in a criminal compound and we only see the political prisoners during our one-hour break. There is nothing to help us spend our time - no television or radio - and we are harassed by the criminal prisoners. All I want to do now is return to school. I want to see my friends and family. I dream that I am outside the prison." DCI/PS views with grave concern the conditions in which Palestinian children are being held and in particular the situation of Sanaa' Amer. As a States Party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Israel is bound to uphold the articles contained therein. Article 37 of the CRC states that "Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and a respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age." Sanaa' was beaten and tortured during her arrest and her conditions of detention do not meet the minimum requirements of international law. She has been denied visits from her family and lawyers and prevented from receiving or sending letters. Article 37 of the CRC states, "Every child shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits." Sanaa' is detained in Ramle Prison around 20km from Tel Aviv, a violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that states, "Protected persons shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein." The treatment of Sanaa', as well as scores of other Palestinian children, indicates Israel's patent disregard of international law. According to DCI/PS fieldwork, there are currently more than 230 children in Israeli prisons or detention centres. These minors have been denied lawyer and family visits; many have been tortured and placed in detention with criminal prisoners. Only recently was DCI/PS' lawyer granted permission to visit detainees; this permission will expire at the end of the month and require a further lengthy application procedure for renewal. On 26 February 2001, Sanaa's detention was extended by the Beit El Israeli Military Court until the end of legal proceedings. DCI/PS believes there is no justification for Sanaa's continued detention and calls for her immediate release. DCI/PS urges the international community to send faxes and emails of protest to the following addresses as well as the Israeli Embassy in your respective countries: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Fax: (? 2) 566 4838 Ministry of Justice Email: Fax: (? 2) 628 5438 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. DCI/PS, P.O. Box 55201, Jerusalem Tel: ? 2 240 7530 Fax: ? 2 240 7018 (Note: please try and use ?, if the above country code does not work) E-mail: dcipal@palnet.com END top