'Israel' holding disabled Palestinian teen with no trial for 6 months
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The imprisoned Palestinian has language challenges, communication problems, outbursts, and epilepsy, and his imprisonment might exacerbate these symptoms.
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A Palestinian young man stands on a hill overlooking "Israel's" Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on July 3, 2024. (AP)
A 16-year-old Palestinian teen, from the West Bank, with an intellectual disability has been held in "Israel" without trial for six months, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. His lawyers said he does not comprehend his incarceration and has been mistreated in custody owing to his condition.
The Shin Bet security forces claimed he was detained for allegedly attempting to stab Israelis, but no official accusations were filed.
The controversial policy of administrative detention allows Israeli authorities to hold individuals without charge for up to six months with indefinite renewals and without indictment or presenting evidence to counsels.
The teen's attorneys Riham Nassra and Michal Pomeranz have challenged the imprisonment, citing a medical report that proves his intellectual handicap.
According to the report, his father has epilepsy and psychological disorders and his mother has renal disease, and the family is struggling financially. It was also indicated that the teen has language challenges, communication problems, outbursts, and epilepsy, and that imprisonment might exacerbate these symptoms.
In response to Haaretz, the Shin Bet claimed his release was not approved due to a "risk assessment".
The teen's health was not included in the transcripts of the sessions on his administrative detention order, so his attorneys argued in their request that the court was not made aware of his status. In response, the military prosecution said his medical state was provided to the courts that debated the order's approval, as well as the IOF Central Command commander when the order was issued.
The military prosecution also cited a mental health treatment system in the jails, as well as prisoners suffering from psychiatric conditions. The attorneys argued that the entity is incorrectly classifying the inmate's condition as a mental health issue and that the prison service's mental health program is ineffective for treating a detainee who is disabled.
When prisoners have cognitive or emotional impairments in trials, they are evaluated to determine their ability to grasp the legal process and defend themselves. In the teen's case, the military prosecution claimed that the issue of legal fitness was immaterial because administrative detention is not a criminal proceeding.
Maurice Hirsch, a former military prosecutor and current director at the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative, stated that "Israel's" military system struggles to find alternatives to custody for minors or those with severe cognitive impairments.
Hirsch claimed that the PA rejected efforts to collaborate to establish rehabilitative facilities, adding that Israeli law enforcement considers house arrest in Palestinian-controlled Areas A of the West Bank as equivalent to releasing individuals, as they cannot monitor them there.
In response to the attorneys' request for an extra hearing, military prosecutor Alice Giladov cited the example of Rashad Ahmad, a former administrative detainee from the West Bank with epilepsy and serious mental illness whose detention was allowed by the Supreme Court. Although the courts approved a four-month detention order against him, they forbade its extension for another four months.
A psychiatric evaluation provided on his behalf by his lawyer, Wiam Baloum, stated that Ahmad suffers from a serious mental condition and is unaware of what he is saying after he threatened a Shin Bet agent.
His lawyer filed an appeal with the military appeals court, and in an unusual move, the order for extending his detention was canceled and he was released.
