Violent clashes (Archive)
Photo: Rahamim Maimon
Girls arrested in Hebron claim police abused them
Three minors tell attorney police officers withheld sleep, food, and bathroom privileges from them after they were arrested in clashes between settlers, security forces in Kiryat Arba
Three girls who were arrested last week during clashes between settlers and security forces in Hebron claim to have been abused by the police, according to the attorney representing one of the suspects.
Attorney David Halevy filed a complaint with the Police Investigation Unit (PIU) claiming that the girls, aged 12, 15, and 17, were falsely accused of a number of crimes in police reports and abused by officers in various manners.
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Teen girls aged 12-17 charged with reckless endangerment after they hurled rocks at troops during evacuation of illegal settler outpost
The three girls were indicted a week ago on charges of obstruction of justice and reckless endangerment. They were also charged with assault of police officers during the evacuation of an illegal structure in Kiryat Arba. One of the suspects was released under house arrest two days after the arrest.
Halevy sent a letter to head of the PIU, Herzl Shviro, in which he claimed the arresting officers had committed fraud and breach of trust during the incident. He also accused one of the officers of forging signatures on the arrest documents.
The attorney appealed to Shviro to launch an investigation against the officers and to suspend the case against his client, the 17-year old girl. He claimed the officers had unnecessarily used brute force against his client and her friends.
Halevy further claimed that his client had told him the officers denied the girls basic rights such as sleep and food for many hours, and refused to allow them to go to the bathroom. He wrote that the officers yelled at the minors repeatedly and used offensive language, calling them "smelly" and "dirty".
Finally, the attorney claimed the officers turned on the air conditioning to intolerable temperatures in order to freeze the girls and suppress their ability to fight back, simultaneously forcing them to sit with their faces just inches from the wall for a number of hours.
