CPT – Hebron – Children suspected of stone-throwing are routinely held without access to family or legal counsel, as required by International Humanitarian Law
On 16 June, CPTers found Israeli soldiers questioning young children in the street outside the CPT house. Soldiers accused them of throwing rocks up at a soldier stationed high on the rooftop of an adjacent building, from the street below.
Soldiers identified a boy about eight years old, and demanded he go with them. The boy began crying and a Palestinian man intervened, trying to separate him from the soldiers.
CPTers photographed the incident and a soldier threatened to break their cameras. The soldiers took the boy to the nearby “Osma ben Monqeth” what so-called “Israeli settlement of Beit Romano”, where they took him behind the main security gate (see photo above). A woman related to the boy approached the gate and asked to see him. Soldiers refused, and she was visibly distressed.
The soldiers continued to question the boy an hour after they had detained him. During this time he did not have a parent, guardian, lawyer, or any sympathetic adult with him – a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. CPTers challenged the soldiers and asked when the boy would be released. The soldiers stated their procedure is to detain any child suspected of stone-throwing. The boy was released to the custody of the Palestinian Authority police through Checkpoint 56, and then to the custody of his parents.
