Magistrate Court - Stone Throwing, Remand Extension

Translation: Marganit W.

Jerusalem Magistrate Court

In the court of Justice Shapira – judge on call

We arrived at 9:30. The corridors of the courthouse were not very crowded. Near the room of the Judge on call we met two families with two children, summoned for 9 AM.

Both families are from Abu-Tor. The children are 12 and 13. They are part of a group of children arrested and detained at Oz Facility.

Here are details from the internet about this facility. However, these days, when so many children are arrested, the function of the station has been expanded to include interrogations.

Oz Point – Alar Street, Armon Hanatziv, Jerusalem

Tel. 02-568444

Reception: Daily between 07:30 – 22:00

Information about work licenses and weapons registration – Sun.-Thurs. 15:00-17:00

In emergency: you can come at all hours.

Note: Oz Point serves the following neighborhoods: Arnona, Armon Hanatziv, Har Homa, Abu-Tor, Jabal Mukabar, Um Tuba, Zur Baher.

Today we found the children at the Russian Compound. Some were taken from home, some from other places. The parents reported that the children were arrested based on testimony by a settler who took pictures of them throwing firebombs and rocks.

Some parents accompanied the children to the station, but the interrogation was carried out without the parents’ presence and lasted seven hours.

One child we saw waiting in line had undergone two heart operations: he is incapable of opening his arm at an angle that allows throwing rocks or firebombs.

According to the other child’s mother, the boy was detained for three hours – without the parents’ presence. The soldiers beat him and threatened him. His father resides in Gaza.

The two children have been under house arrest for 5 days. They were unable to go to school. Today their trial resumes.

We were joined by the father of a 14-year old boy who is in full detention. The charges against him are similar.

The hall where the hearings take place is very small. There are many investigators and handcuffed detainees there. The hours passed and still the children from Abu Tor who have been here since 9:00 were waiting for their turn.

We attended different hearings conducted by Justice Shapira.

It is almost midday. It is almost the turn of the Abu Tor people. Others are still waiting.

Justice Shapira had no objection to our presence (with the parents’ consent). But the room is too tiny, so the attorneys and the parents are admitted, and we are not.

The corridor is now full of parents and children. It is getting claustrophobic. Here too there is a fence, and you have to wait behind the barrier. The corridor is supposed to accommodate detainees, interrogators, attorneys and policemen. The building, which was once elegant and respectable, is now full of tears.

The children are represented by Atty. Muhammad Mahmoud.

I could not reach the attorney to find out the results of the hearings of those three children. I had the phone number of one of the Abu Tor people, but unfortunately I was unable to contact them either.