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Name: Ezzat H
Age at incident: 10
Date of incident: 11 June 2008
Location: Sanniriya, Qalqiliya
Accusation: None
A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture
for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11
June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was
repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced
to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was
deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.
On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old
Ezzat, his
brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father’s shop
selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West
Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two
Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop.
Interrogation and abuse in 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”. A terrified Ezzat responded, “My 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 hand 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 sacks containing the animal feed.
Ezzat kept insisting that there was no gun in the shop so the soldier
slapped him once again, this time across his left cheek.
One of Ezzat’s friends, realising that something was wrong, tried to
enter the shop but was kicked by the soldier standing at the door and
prevented from entering. Soon a group of local people had gathered
outside the shop. Some of the people in the group also tried to enter
the shop but were prevented from doing so by the soldier at the door.
The soldier in the black T-shirt asked him once again to produce the
gun. Ezzat answered, “We do not have anything”.
The soldier responded by punching him hard in the stomach causing Ezzat
to fall over on to empty egg boxes. 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 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.
Interrogation and abuse in the home
After arriving at the family’s home the soldier in the black T-shirt
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.
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 making 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),
Raghda (18), (Aya) 15 and brother Jihad (3), 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 would return every five minutes to slap Ezzat and also to punch him
several times in the stomach. Each time this took place Ezzat would
shout and scream out in pain and burst in to tears. The soldier would
then imitate him and make fun of him. The soldier hit him around six
times.
Destruction of property and use of stress positions
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 it contents, damage to the kitchen, a fan and the
fireplace.
Ezzat 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 (see picture). Ezzat was exhausted by this 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 in to the room and asked him to sit on the refrigerator
box.
Shortly after the soldier in the black T-shirt returned accompanied by
Ezzat’s older sister Diana. He proceeded to ask Ezzat whether he cared
for his sister to which Ezzat responded, “Yes I do”.
The soldier then asked him to tell him where the gun was hidden and
that if he told him where it was hidden that 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.
Interrogation of family
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 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, “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.
DCI/PS Statement
DCI/PS is appalled that Israeli authorities would subject a 10-year-old
child to beatings, position abuse and threats over the course of
several hours. The treatment of Ezzat falls within the definition of
torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment as defined in the UN Convention Against Torture,
to which Israel is a State Party. The treatment of Ezzat also infringes
numerous other international conventions to which Israel is bound1,
as well as Israeli military and domestic law2.
DCI/PS again calls on Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with
the UN Convention Against Torture
and to thoroughly and impartially investigate the allegations of
torture and abuse of Ezzat and bring those found responsible for such
abuse to justice.
DCI/PS also calls on the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral
relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel
to uphold the EU human rights standards in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory.
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1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
–
article 5; Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) – articles 27 and 31
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) – article
7; and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) – articles
2(2), 3, 16 and 37(a).
2. Israeli military law establishes the
specific
offence of “ill treatment” which prohibits the beating or other abuse
of any person in a soldier’s custody: see Military Adjudication Law,
5715-1955, Article 65. See also articles 378-382 of the Israeli penal
code.
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** Take Action **
Please send appeals in English, Arabic, Hebrew or your own language to
Israel and/or the EU:
Israel
- Urging Israeli authorities to comply with the UN
Convention Against Torture
and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of
Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for
such abuse to justice.
Appeals to:
President of the State of Israel
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: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Salutation: Dear President
Prime Minister of the State of Israel
Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister
Telephone: +972 2 6753277
Telephone2: +972 2 6753547
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Saluation: Dear Prime Minister
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Tzipi Livni, MK
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd., Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035
Fax: + 972 2 5303367
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Salutation: Dear Foreign Affairs Minister
European Union
- Urging the EU to pressure Israel to immediately
ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture
and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of
Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for
such abuse to justice.
- Urging
the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional
upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold EU human
rights standards in the occupied Palestinian territory.
- Making the EU aware of the recent inclusion of
Palestine/Israel as a priority conflict for the implementation of the EU
Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict,
and of the subsequent reporting tasks on child rights violations
incumbent upon EU diplomatic missions and EU institutions in the field.
Appeals to:
Mr. Bernard Kouchner, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères français
37, quai d’Orsay, 75 007 Paris, France
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Personal Representative for Human Rights (CFSP) of the EU Secretary
General/
High Representative Javier Solana
Ms. Riina Kionka
175 Rue de la Loi BE 1048 Brussels, Belgium
Fax. : +32 2 281 61 90
Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Commissioner for External Affairs and European Neighbourhood Policy
HE Ms. Benita Ferrero- Waldner
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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