Ramallah- 9/9/2015- Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association lawyer Adv. Mohammad Mahmoud reported that the judge of the Magistrate Court in Jerusalem rejected the request to release Salah Ayoubi (12 years old) and Rami Rabee (12 years old) this morning. The judge decided to keep them in detention until 8:00 PM tonight to be released afterwards on a 2000 NIS bail and to be held on house arrest until Sunday, in addition to a third party bail of 4000 NIS.

Israeli occupation forces arrested three children yesterday afternoon: Salah Ayoubi, Rami Rabee and Dia Obaid (9 years old) while they were leaving school and took them to Salah Al-Deen Police Station before releasing Diaa Obaid and holding Rami and Salah in custody.

Adv. Mohammad Mahmoud, who is a children’s lawyer, added that occupation authorities only allowed him to see the children for five minutes following the arrest. Salah Ayoubi’s father attended the interrogation with his son and stated that his son was clearly frightened. He was shaking while sitting on the chair in front of the interrogator and he was attacked in the jeep during the transfer.

The occupation’s police claimed that they arrested the three children because they were throwing rocks at settlers’ vehicles from the eastern entrance of Issawiya village. However, the police confirmed that the rocks the children threw did not cause any damage.

Addameer confirms that Israeli forces continue to commit various rights violations against Palestinian children, such as interrogating them without the presence of their parents and subjecting them to harassment, physical and psychological torture, as well as denying them their right to education by putting them in detention or on house arrest.

Addameer emphasizes that the occupation police and military prosecution resort to child detention without proper regard for the special protections to which they are entitled, guaranteed by more than 27 international covenants. By such practices, Israeli occupation forces devastate the young Palestinian generation by severe damages, both psychologically and academically, and seek to turn them into a burden on the Palestinian society, thus continuing to control Palestinian society, confiscating the lands and denying Palestinians their legitimate rights, particularly their right to self-determination.

Addameer’s statistics indicate that by the end of August 2015 the number of arrested Palestinian children reached 153, 19 of whom were under the age of 16.