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Majority of Palestinians Detained in 2015 are Minors

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Before and after the breakout of the latest Intifada, Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies rights group said on Sunday that the “Israeli” occupation forces detained more than 1,900 Palestinians from the occupied Eastern al-Quds in 2015, the majority of whom were minors.

Majority of Palestinians Detained in 2015 are Minors

Spokesman for the group, Riyad al-Ashqar, said in a statement that around two-thirds of those detained from the occupied city were minors, 65 of whom were put under house arrest.

Besides, al-Ashqar slammed “Israeli” use of house arrest on Palestinians under the age of 14 as an attempt to skirt Zionist law regarding imprisonment of minors that in effect “turns the child’s house itself to a prison and the family members to wardens.”

In response to the resistance operations conducted lately, “Israeli” forces launched a series of new measures in November, including a bill approved by the “Israeli” Ministerial Committee for Legislation that enables minors from 12 years of age to be given custodial sentences for committing “nationalistically-motivated” crimes.

Following the approval, prisoners’ rights group Addameer said that children convicted of such crimes would not actually serve the sentences until reaching the age of 14, as current criminal law in the Zionist entity prohibits custodial sentences against children under 14.

The group reported that the Knesset meanwhile changed an existing national insurance law to enable authorities remove social benefits provided to children while they served time in prison.

Relatively, “Israeli” juvenile courts were granted the ability to charge families of children fines of up to US$2,580.

In the same context, the “Israeli” government, and PM Benjamin Netanyahu in particular, came under heavy fire in July when the Knesset passed a law allowing stone-throwers to receive a 20-year prison sentence where intent to harm could be proven, and 10 years where it could not.

At the time the bill was passed, Palestinian MK Jamal Zahalka wondered: “Who will the judge send to prison? He who demolished the home, seized the land, killed the brother, or the boy who threw a stone?”

Since October, Addameer reported that the “Israeli” Prison Service opened a new juvenile section at Givon prison to accommodate for the mass spike in detention of Palestinian minors.

Conditions in the prison documented by Defense for Children International – Palestine [DCIP] have since failed to meet international standards, with children detainees reportedly denied family visitation and forced into solitary confinement.

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