SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Demonstrators, including members of the Tamimi family, rallied on Dec. 22, 2017 in Manhattan's Union Square to demand the release of Ahed Tamimi. (Photo: Joe Catron/flickr/cc)
Continued Detention of Ahed Tamimi Denounced as Symptomatic of Israel's Flouting of Int'l Law
"It is clear that detaining and prosecuting Palestinian children in Israeli military courts has little to do with justice," says Brad Parker of Defense for Children International Palestine
Jan 16, 2018
Human rights experts sounded alarm on Wednesday after an Israeli military judge ruled that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi--a child who has not been convicted of a crime--must remain in custody during her trial.
While the court ruled there was no "alternative to custody," Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said, "There is nothing that can justify Ahed Tamimi's continued detention."
The teen was arrested last month after slapping IDF soldiers outside her home in the occupied West Bank--an action she took shortly after soldiers shot her 15-year-old cousin in the head.
As the Jerusalem Post notes, viral video of the slapping event shows "there is no sign her small size presented any danger, and the [armed] soldiers mostly ignored her."
Rights groups say Tamimi's arrest and detention are symptomatic of Israel's treatment of Palestinian children.
Her "outrageously excessive" ongoing detention and military court trial, said Mughrabi, are "an example of the institutional discrimination typical of the treatment of Palestinian children who participate in activism against the Israeli occupation and shows how Israel is violating its international human rights obligations towards children."
Echoing that comment, Brad Parker, international advocacy officer and staff attorney for Defense for Children International Palestine, said, "Ahed's pretrial detention, rather than the exception, is the norm in the Israeli military detention system where international law is routinely disregarded, including that detention must only be a measure of last resort.
"It is clear that detaining and prosecuting Palestinian children in Israeli military courts has little to do with justice," Parker said.
"Israeli military law," he added, "denies basic fair trial rights and ill-treatment of child detainees is widespread with nearly three out of four Palestinian children experience some form of physical violence after arrest."
B'tselm, the Israel-based human rights group, also denounced the treatment of Tamimi and Israel's military court system, calling the latter "a major tool of oppression serving Israel's control over Palestinians in the Occupied Territories."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Human rights experts sounded alarm on Wednesday after an Israeli military judge ruled that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi--a child who has not been convicted of a crime--must remain in custody during her trial.
While the court ruled there was no "alternative to custody," Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said, "There is nothing that can justify Ahed Tamimi's continued detention."
The teen was arrested last month after slapping IDF soldiers outside her home in the occupied West Bank--an action she took shortly after soldiers shot her 15-year-old cousin in the head.
As the Jerusalem Post notes, viral video of the slapping event shows "there is no sign her small size presented any danger, and the [armed] soldiers mostly ignored her."
Rights groups say Tamimi's arrest and detention are symptomatic of Israel's treatment of Palestinian children.
Her "outrageously excessive" ongoing detention and military court trial, said Mughrabi, are "an example of the institutional discrimination typical of the treatment of Palestinian children who participate in activism against the Israeli occupation and shows how Israel is violating its international human rights obligations towards children."
Echoing that comment, Brad Parker, international advocacy officer and staff attorney for Defense for Children International Palestine, said, "Ahed's pretrial detention, rather than the exception, is the norm in the Israeli military detention system where international law is routinely disregarded, including that detention must only be a measure of last resort.
"It is clear that detaining and prosecuting Palestinian children in Israeli military courts has little to do with justice," Parker said.
"Israeli military law," he added, "denies basic fair trial rights and ill-treatment of child detainees is widespread with nearly three out of four Palestinian children experience some form of physical violence after arrest."
B'tselm, the Israel-based human rights group, also denounced the treatment of Tamimi and Israel's military court system, calling the latter "a major tool of oppression serving Israel's control over Palestinians in the Occupied Territories."
Human rights experts sounded alarm on Wednesday after an Israeli military judge ruled that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi--a child who has not been convicted of a crime--must remain in custody during her trial.
While the court ruled there was no "alternative to custody," Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said, "There is nothing that can justify Ahed Tamimi's continued detention."
The teen was arrested last month after slapping IDF soldiers outside her home in the occupied West Bank--an action she took shortly after soldiers shot her 15-year-old cousin in the head.
As the Jerusalem Post notes, viral video of the slapping event shows "there is no sign her small size presented any danger, and the [armed] soldiers mostly ignored her."
Rights groups say Tamimi's arrest and detention are symptomatic of Israel's treatment of Palestinian children.
Her "outrageously excessive" ongoing detention and military court trial, said Mughrabi, are "an example of the institutional discrimination typical of the treatment of Palestinian children who participate in activism against the Israeli occupation and shows how Israel is violating its international human rights obligations towards children."
Echoing that comment, Brad Parker, international advocacy officer and staff attorney for Defense for Children International Palestine, said, "Ahed's pretrial detention, rather than the exception, is the norm in the Israeli military detention system where international law is routinely disregarded, including that detention must only be a measure of last resort.
"It is clear that detaining and prosecuting Palestinian children in Israeli military courts has little to do with justice," Parker said.
"Israeli military law," he added, "denies basic fair trial rights and ill-treatment of child detainees is widespread with nearly three out of four Palestinian children experience some form of physical violence after arrest."
B'tselm, the Israel-based human rights group, also denounced the treatment of Tamimi and Israel's military court system, calling the latter "a major tool of oppression serving Israel's control over Palestinians in the Occupied Territories."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.