Facts about Palestinian Child Prisoners

Defense Children International April, 18 2007

Currently there are approximately 380 Palestinian children in Israeli
prisons

Many of these children are awaiting trial or sentence, and others are
serving lengthy periods of imprisonment for minor offences such as stone
throwing.

Palestinian children are subjected to the same arrest, interrogation, trial
and imprisonment procedures as adults.

Palestinian children under the arrest of Israeli soldiers, are not
advised of their rights, are not given immediate access to a lawyer or
contact with a parent, guardian, other adult relative or an independent
support person.

Palestinian children are deprived of the right to a family
visit while held in a detention center for interrogation. This can last
several weeks. But even after the conclusion of interrogation, a Palestinian
child may remain in a detention center for an indefinite period where family
visits are not allowed.

Palestinian children can be deprived a visit from a lawyer while under
interrogation for "security reasons" and this can last up to 90 days under
Israeli military law.

In a number of circumstances, a Palestinian child may only meet his lawyer
for the first time at the first court appearance in the Military Court .

Most Palestinian children are detained from the moment of their arrest until
the end of legal proceedings. They are usually arrested in their homes in
the middle of the night and are rarely granted bail by the Military Court .

Palestinian children are interrogated in detention centers and in many
circumstances are assaulted, beaten and tortured during the interrogation
process. Torture methods include psychological threats of harm to or
imprisonment of family members.

The Military Court (both the judiciary and the prosecution) relies heavily
on the confession of a Palestinian child with no rules of evidence. A
confession is the main piece of information or "evidence" used against a
Palestinian child in the Military Court . It is often obtained by coercion
during the interrogation process. A confession is in effect, the
prosecutor's case and can also be used to implicate other Palestinian child
prisoners both in Court proceedings and in interrogation.

The confession, regardless of how it has been obtained, forms the bases of
the indictment against the child. It is what the child has to respond to in
entering a guilty or not guilty plea before the Military Court . There are
no civilian, forensic or military personnel witness statements, whether oral
or written, presented to the Military Court or a Palestinian child's Defense
lawyer before this plea is entered. In effect, this shifts the burden of
proof on the Defense making it extremely difficult to challenge a
confession.

All Palestinian children brought before the Israeli military court are
sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Israel uses imprisonment as a measure
of first resort for Palestinian children; there are very few cases of
children who receive alternative sentences.

During their imprisonment, Palestinian children are exposed to varying forms
of punishment for minor offences including being placed in solitary
confinement, deprivation from family visits, financial penalties withdrawn
from their prison accounts, and ongoing restrictions to going outdoors.
Palestinian child prisoners also do not have the same rights as Israeli
child prisoners, for example they do not have the right to make telephone
calls.

For further information, visit DCI's website at
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/home.cfm