RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Israeli military court at the Ofer detention center extended the detention period of 14-year-old Islam Saleh Tamimi, to almost three months.
The child, from the central West Bank village of An-Nabi Saleh, was detained from his home at 2am on the morning of 24 January. Local activist groups said he was taken to a police station and interrogated without his parents or a lawyer present and later beaten.
The court decision was handed down after the child’s family refused a suggested plea bargain that they said would have seen their son exiled from his home and sent to stay with relatives who hold Israeli identity cards.
He would have to remain under house arrest in the new location, the family said. The release also asked for a 10,000 shekel ($2,718) fine.
The village popular committee said the proposal exposed the “rudeness” of the Israeli military and the “occupation’s lack of humanity.”
In its weekly cabinet meeting, the West Bank government condemned the Israeli proposition, saying the child was to have been deported to Ramallah, along with his family.
The family was to have rented a home in the city and installed a phone line, “so that the occupation officer is able to call the child and ensure his presence at home,” the cabinet said in a statement.
In its attempt to force the relocation of the family and keep the child on house arrest, the cabinet called the Israeli decision “shameful and reflects the repressive policy and illegal practices of the occupation, which contravene human rights, especially children’s rights.”
