Detained Hero Junaidi tells his story of torture by Zionist regime

The 16-year-old Palestinian detained boy, Fawzi al-Junaidi, whose photo, showing him surrounded by over 20 Israeli soldiers during his arrest on December 07, went viral on social media, narrated his story of being tortured at the hands of Israeli soldiers at the time of arrest.

Captive Junaidi told the lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoner Society Mamoun al-Hesheim, who visited him in Ofer jail, that an Israeli soldier beat him by a rifle on his chest while he was passing by clashes in al-Tuffah Street in al-Khalil to visit his relatives.

The lawyer quoted Junaidi as saying that 23 soldiers, as shown in the photo, joined that soldier and started cursing and hitting him, with their feet, hands and guns, while lying down.

A statement, issued on Saturday by the Society, stated that Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) blindfolded the boy and tied his hands with a plastic chain which injured his hands. He was forced to walk to the so-called Container barrier with bare feet.

Fawzi al-Junaidi added that the soldiers detained him after that in a dark room where they continued beating him brutally. They tortured him by pouring cold water on his feet and strongly stepping on them. He was about to faint of severe pain, he said.

Detainee Junaidi was left with bruises all over his body which required him to be taken to hospital before moving him to jail.

The lawyer also pointed out that Israeli occupation authorities subjected the detained minor to investigation while being tied by a metal chain. His lawyer was not allowed to accompany him during the investigation and he was banned from contacting his family.

The investigator forced Junaidi to sign a confession in Hebrew without even offering him a translation, the lawyer added.

The published photo of the Palestinian Hero has been locally and internationally condemned as symbolizing the Israeli army’s use of excessive force against Palestinian detained children.