15-YEAR-OLD PALESTINIAN ENTERS 76TH DAY IN ISRAELI CUSTODY

Al-Quds (Jerusalem),  21 Jumadil Awwal 1436/12 March 2015 (MINA) – Fifteen-year-old Palestinian Khalid Hussam al-Sheikh entered his 76th day in Israeli custody on Wednesday after he was sentenced to four months jail time and given a 2,000 shekel ($495) fine for throwing rocks and burning tires.

Al-Sheikh’s family told the Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights that Khalid was not medically treated by Israel since he was detained on Dec. 25, 2014 despite the fact that he suffers from anemia.

The family said that Khalid is currently being held in the Ofer detention center near Ramallah, and that they had not seen him since his detention, pointing out that they applied for visit permits long ago but have not received approval, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Ageny (MINA) as reporting.

Children entering Israel’s prison system often experience forms of physical violence between arrest and interrogation as well as strip searches, according to a UNICEF report released in February 2015.

In 2014, 93 percent of children detained by Israeli forces were denied access to legal counsel, while others endured prolonged periods of solitary confinement for interrogation purposes, a practice that amounts to torture under international law, according to human rights organization Defense for Children International- Palestine.

Israeli military law applies only to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli settlers living in the same area are generally tried in civilian courts.  (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)