Teen refugees ask High Court to be released from jail
Group of 24 minor African refugees claim they cannot be deported back to their countries, meanwhile being kept in prison custody alongside criminals. Petition motions for their transfer to alternative custodial facility
Twenty-four teen refugees who infiltrated into Israel via Egypt filed a petition Tuesday with the High Court of Justice against the Interior Ministry, the interior minister, the internal security minister and the Israeli Prison Service commissioner. The minors are motioning to be released from prison custody and transferred to a special custodial facility.
The young petitioners claim that being held under rough conditions causes them sever physical and mental damage and that every day that passes increases their distress.
The petition, which was filed by attorneys of the Justice Ministry's Legal Aid Department, stated that the teens are citizens of African countries who entered Israel after undergoing great hardships and at times even torture, without their parents.
According to the petitioners, since last July they have been incarcerated for long periods at the Givon prison, which is not a proper facility to keep un-chaperoned minors.
They further claimed that keeping them in custody was a temporary means until the deportation order issued against them will be implemented. However, in all cases the deportation cannot be carried out and therefore they continue to be unlawfully held in confinement alongside criminals for weeks and even months.
Danger to mental health
It was also stated that some of the teens are in genuine emotional distress as a result of the hardships they underwent and that their physical and mental health is in jeopardy.
The petitioners added that they have approached the bodies at which the petition is directed through the Legal Aid Department asking to be immediately transferred to an appropriate custodial facility suitable for minors but did not receive a relevant reply.
The petition also claimed that the State of Israel chooses to hold the minors in jail for "unclear" reasons and despite the fact that in most cases they pose no danger to themselves and were not indicted for any criminal offence.
Attorney Eyal Globus, head of the Legal Aid Department, told Ynet: "We feel that inadequate treatment of minors constitutes a grave injury and a blunt violation of their rights which may lead to more serious repercussions in the future."
