Testimony: Police assault youths Jerusalem, January 2008
Testimony: Police assault youths Jerusalem, January 2008
Walid 'Awwad, Student
Last Thursday [17 January], around 10:30 A.M., I left my house with friends from school, Muhammad Salah, 16, and Zayed Naji, 15. There wasn't school and we wanted to go to the Ramot settlement, which is near our homes, to look for work and earn some money to help out our poor families. Only a wadi separates our village from Ramot. The three of us crossed the wadi.
Within twenty minutes, we reached the Ramot road, which runs parallel to our village. We knocked on a few doors asking if the people needed any help in gardening or cleaning. After doing that for about half an hour, we saw a few police patrol vehicles, three I think, and a large police vehicle. They were traveling fast and stopped in the middle of the road. Police in blue uniforms [regular police], got out and ran toward us. I fled toward the wadi. I don't know how many police officers chased me. After running about ten meters, one of them caught me. He sprayed gas in my face, which made my eyes hurt a lot. I fell to the ground. He put his foot in my head and pressed. That hurt a lot. He kicked me in the waist and head, and beat me for about three minutes. Then he handcuffed me and pulled me toward the patrol vehicle.
My eyes, nose, and ears really hurt. My eyes burned a lot and I couldn't see too well. The policeman sat me down on the ground next to the car. I asked him to let me wash my face. I managed to see that he had a light complexion, was average height, and was thin. Another officer, who was tall, heavyset, and had white hair and wore sunglasses, kicked me in the head a few times. That hurt a lot.
Another policeman arrived and took me to the yard of one of the houses. He washed my head with water. My hands were still cuffed. He asked me, in Arabic, what we were doing in Ramot and accused us of attempted robbery. I told him we were looking for work. He took me back to the patrol vehicle. I heard one of the other policemen calling him Hassan.
They put me and Muhammad in the vehicle and took us to the police station in the Russian Compound, where we met Zayed. We waited there hours. While sitting there, police officers passed by and many of them swore at us. One policeman banged my head against the wall three times because I spoke to Zayed. Another policeman pulled out a pocket-knife and said that he would cut my finger. I panicked and called the policeman Hassan. He spoke with the other officer in Hebrew, and the other guy left me alone.
Around 5:00 P.M., they told me to sign a paper stating they had not beaten me. I signed it because I was frightened. Later, they took me to an interrogation room. The interrogator was an Arab named Waseem. He accused me of attempted robbery. I told him I didn't steal anything or intend to steal anything, and that I was only looking for work. I was then taken from the room to be interrogated by somebody else, who asked me the same questions.
After that, they returned me to the detention room. We remained there until the next day, when they took us to court, where I signed a document. I have no idea what it said. Then they released us.
Walid Iyad Ahmad 'Awwad, 16, is a student and a resident of Beit Iksa, al-Quds District. His testimony was given to Kareem Jubran, at the witness' house, on 21 January 2008.
