ByNews Desk- The Cradle
More than 12,000 Palestinian children have been arrested by Israel since the year 2000
Sabbah was arrested in the occupied West Bank in October of 2019 after being shot and seriously wounded by Israeli soldiers for allegedly planning to stab a member of the occupation forces. He then spent six months in Ramla prison hospital before being moved to Megiddo prison.
According to prisoners rights advocacy and support group Addameer, 160 Palestinian children are currently detained in various prisons across Israel and the occupied territories with some of them facing lengthy prison sentences. Most of the child detainees are in pre-trial detention and have not been convicted of any offense.
Statistics compiled by Addameer show that more than 12,000 children have been arrested by Israel since the year 2000, mostly for throwing stones. Under Israeli occupation military law, throwing stones is deemed a “security offense” that can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
According to the American Friends Service Committee, an organization that assists political prisoners, Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children in military courts, denying them fundamental fair trial rights and protections. On top of this, most of the confessions used to convict these children are allegedly obtained using coercion and torture.
The groups says the children, like adult detainees, are often detained in deplorable conditions where they are subjected to physical and emotional torture and repression.
Experts agree that Israel carries out this abuse of Palestinian children as a threat in order to stop them from participating in mobilizations against the occupation. The failure by the successive US and western governments to defend the rights of Palestinians has emboldened Tel Aviv and led to an increase in the use of abusive methods.
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