2 Aug. '11: Video: Undercover police detain 13-year-old playing soccer in Ras al-‘Amud, East Jerusalem

On the afternoon of Friday, 22 July '11, several youths were playing soccer in a street in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-’Amud. Footage from a security camera located outside a nearby shop shows a police vehicle crossing the street and then a Border Police jeep arriving and blocking one end of the street. The youths are seen moving to the side and a civilian vehicle stops next to them. Several undercover policemen get out, grab Islam Jaber, a 13-year-old boy from the neighborhood, and force him into the vehicle.

According to Jaber's testimony to B'Tselem, the undercover policemen forced him to lie on the floor of the vehicle and blindfolded him with a piece of cloth. He cried, out of fear and helplessness. While the vehicle was moving, the boy said, the undercover forces questioned him while slapping his face. Jaber was interrogated on suspicion of stone-throwing without having his parents present, nor was he given an opportunity to consult with a lawyer. He told B'Tselem that after he refused to sign a document written in Hebrew, the interrogators punched him and hit him with a club. He maintained his refusal and was released at the entrance to the Ma’ale Zeitim settlement, in Ras al-‘Amud, approximately an hour after he was taken. Members of his family had asked police representatives where he would be released and were waiting for him at the spot. Jaber's father took him to the emergency room at Hadassah Hospital, Mt. Scopus, where he was found to be suffering from external bruising. Jaber told B'Tselem that since the incident, he has been waking up at night from nightmares. On Monday, 25 July '11, his father filed a complaint with the Department for the Investigation of Police. Jaber gave his testimony to DIP investigators. The family has not yet been informed whether an investigation will be opened.


Source:btselem.org