14-YEAR-OLD GIRL SENTENCED TO ISRAELI PRISON

Human rights groups accuse the Israeli regime of arresting 2,400 children per year. (Photo: falastinews)

Ramallah, 3 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/24 January 2015 (MINA) – A 14-year-old Palestinian girl from the village of Bateen near Ramallah was sentenced to two months in Israeli prison after she was convicted on charges of hurling stones at Israeli occupation forces.

Malak Ali Al Khatib was arrested by Israeli regime forces in front of her village’s school on December 31, 2014.

The Israeli regime’s policy of arresting minors violates all international laws and conventions, Gulfnews quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Testimonies from the girls friends at school say Malak had not even been throwing stones.

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Malak’s parents have not been allowed to visit her in jail, despite repeated attempts by her father to secure a permit.

Under Israeli law, a parent of a minor should attend the interrogation of their child, but the regime does not apply the law when it comes to Palestinian minors.

Malak has been said to be suffering serious psychological difficulties during her incarceration. According to the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, throwing stones is not even considered a crime under international law.

It added occupation forces often arrest minors without reason and falsely claim they were throwing stones.

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The Palestinian National Authority has condemned the arrest and urged international organisations to intervene to secure Malak’s release.

Human rights groups and advocacies have accused Israeli occupation forces of arresting as many as 200 minors a month, or around 2,400 per year, in the West Bank.

In 2013, 1,000 arrests were recorded, Fedaa Najadah, an official at the Palestinian Prison Club, said that arresting Palestinian minors is not a new Israeli policy, but the occupation used this policy during the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 1989 when it arrested thousands of Palestinian minors who were subjected to all types of physical and psychological torture.

She added during the second intifada (Al Aqsa Intifada), occupation forces arrested more than 10,000 Palestinian minors, many of whom were also subjected to torture.(T/P009/P3)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)