On August 8, 2016,
HaMoked contacted the Israel Police about the arrest of Palestinian minors from the West Bank and their interrogation at police stations there. HaMoked wrote that testimonies recently collected from Palestinian minors who had been interrogated by the Israel Police, and from their parents, paint a grim picture of routine violation of the minors’ basic rights, police brutality and severe flaws in the conduct of interrogations. HaMoked noted that in breach of Israeli law and international law, Palestinian minors were being interrogated without being allowed to consult with a lawyer or contact their parents before the interrogation. HaMoked also complained about the lack of audiovisual recording of the interrogations that increased the likelihood of harm at the hands of interrogators.
On May 9, 2017, nine months after the letter was sent, the
response of the police arrived, declaiming, as usual, any responsibility for their failures. Thus, contrary to the evidence from the ground, the Israel Police insist they uphold interrogated minors’ right to counsel. Furthermore, with regards to HaMoked’s demand to stop interrogating Palestinian minors during the night, the police referred HaMoked to the military, which carries out the nighttime arrests, claiming that as far as possible, interrogations of Palestinian minors are carried out in the morning. The police went on to add a “warning”, that terminating nighttime interrogations would in fact harm the minors, as they would have to remain in the police station until morning! The police ended their letter by deploring the fact that HaMoked's claims were “stated generally”, rather than the violation of minors’ rights.
