(Photo: Press Tv)
Al-Quds, 9 Rabiul Awwal 1436/31 December 2014 (MINA) – Israeli forces have detained more than 1,000 Palestinian children under the age of 15 in the occupied Palestinian territories throughout this year.
Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, the head of the Palestinian Detainees Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday that 1,266 Palestinian kids were arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds (Jerusalem) over the course of this year.
“The vast majority of these arrests occurred in the second half of the year,” Ferwana said, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
He added that some 200 of the 1,266 detained children still remain in Israeli jails.
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“The children testified that they had been subjected to various forms of torture and deprived of their basic rights,” Ferwana said.
The PLO official further called upon international organizations to intervene and “protect the children from detention and torture.”
“Latest statistics indicate that the current number of (Palestinian) detainees is 6,500, held in 18 (Israeli) prisons, detention camps and interrogation centers,” Ferwana said on December 24.
He added, “Two hundred of them are children. 21 are women, and nearly 500 are held under administrative detention, without charges or trial.”
The Palestinian official added that the arrests and imprisonments had been done in “revenge” and retaliation against a civilian population.
About 4,000 Palestinians have been detained since June, when three Israeli settlers disappeared and their bodies were found afterwards.
He added that 31 of the detainees have been in prison for more than 20 years, while 16 have been in jail for over 25 years. Also, 478 detainees are serving life term. (T/P011/R03)
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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
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