Probe: Soldiers beat Palestinian, camera turned away
B'Tselem rights group claims filming of incident in which troops allegedly beat detainee in West Bank purposely disrupted
Military Police announced Tuesday the launching of an investigation into an incident in which IDF soldiers and Border Guard officers allegedly beat a Palestinian man during his arrest.
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The incident occurred in late April in the village of Silwad, located east of Ramallah in the West Bank, and was documented by a security camera belonging to the Ofra settlement.
Watch: Security camera footage of incident
The Palestinian, Muhammad Da'ar Sa'ad from the village of Al-Mazra'a Al-Sharqiya, was held in Israeli detention for about a month. After the footage was exposed, due to the efforts of the Palestinian's attorney, the Military Prosecution withdrew its claim that he had thrown stones. The youngster was subsequently released.
Based on the footage, B'Tselem claimed the operators of the camera purposely turned it away from the incident. The human rights group further claimed that the footage was not transferred to the Palestinian's attorney.
The camera was positioned far from the scene of the incident, but the footage allegedly shows a soldier apprehending Sa'ad, knocking him to the ground and beating him. Shortly thereafter two other soldiers join in and hit the Palestinian.
B'Tselem says the filming was disrupted while the soldiers were beating the Palestinian.
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