As part of a larger campaign on Palestinian political prisoners, in the first few months of 2020, Wellington Palestine will highlight the plight of Palestinian child prisoners. Each year the Israeli military arrests, detains interrogates and prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children from the occupied territories. Israel is the only country in the world to automatically prosecute children in military courts that lack basic safeguards for a fair trial. The most common charge against children is throwing stones, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Under Israeli military detention, Palestinian children as young as 12 are routinely:
- Taken from their homes in night time raids at gunpoint.
- Blindfolded, bound and shackled.
- Interrogated without a lawyer or relative and with no audio-visual recording.
- Put into solitary confinement.
- Forced to sign confessions (often in Hebrew, a language they do not understand).
From the moment of their arrest, Palestinian children encounter ill-treatment and torture at the hands of Israeli forces. Three out of four experience physical violence during arrest or interrogation.
Take Action
Please take action by signing our petition to let the New Zealand Government know we expect them to use their influence on the international stage, to stand up for the human rights and to put pressure on the Israeli government to end the detention and abuse of Palestinian children.
Find out more
Watch our for details of our premiere screening in March of the award-winning documentary Imprisoning a Generation by Zelda Edmunds.
Websites
Justice for Palestine 
You must be logged in to post a comment.