Two minors, aged 14 and 15, who were arrested Monday during the forced evacuation of the Shvut Ami civilian outpost in the Shomron, were brutally beaten in a police station by Policeman Abu Salman Aslah. So reports Orit Strook of the Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Civil Rights Organization.
Shvut Ami was one of the five new satellite communities "founded" last week by the grassroots Land of Israel Loyalists organization. Most of the five did not last for more than a day, as IDF forces and Border Guard policemen evicted the "residents" by the next morning. But Shvut Ami, near Kedumim, lasted several days - until Monday, when the ten remaining activists, some of them minors, were arrested. All ten were taken to the nearby police station in Kadum.
When they arrived, policeman Aslah removed two of the handcuffed boys from the police vehicle and took them to a hidden spot outside the police station. With no one around, he began kicking, punching and beating them in a most brutal manner, inflicting bruises all over their bodies.
Strook, who was informed within a short time of the incident, submitted an urgent complaint to the Police Department's Unit for the Investigation of Policemen. Demanding an immediate investigation, she wrote, "In light of the fear that the two boys will remain in custody, I request that you send an investigator as early as tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to document the injuries inflicted upon the two and to take their testimony."
A police spokesman told Arutz-7's Shlomo Piotrokovsky that once a complaint has been submitted to the Unit for the Investigation of Policemen, "the matter is in its purview, and the police will take action in accordance with its recommendations."
Court Fines State, Police
Meanwhile, the same day the boys were being beaten, a Jerusalem Magistrates Court fined the State of Israel and a policeman 30,000 shekels ($7,500) for similar violence.
The incident occurred in July of 2005, when three teenaged Jewish girls from Hevron - two daughters of Noam Federman and one daughter of Baruch Marzel - were arrested during an anti-Disengagement protest. On the ride to the police station, Border Guard policeman Ataad Shanaan slapped and pinched the girls, pulled their hair and twisted their arms, and threatened them. Policeman Tzion Muallem hit one of the girls and knocked her head against a wall at the end of the ride.
Justice Shimon Feinberg ruled that the testimony of the three girls was consistent and reliable, while that of the policemen was riddled with contradictions. "There is proof that the girls chanted, 'A Jew does not expel a Jew,' but this is certainly no reason to beat them," the judge said. He awarded 10,000 shekels to each of the three girls, to be paid jointly by the State and policeman Shanaan.
Baruch Marzel, a long-time activist, said afterwards, "During the period leading up to the expulsion [from Gush Katif], there were many incidents of police brutality against the children who were arrested during the protests. The police seemed to feel that they could do whatever they wanted. I have another nine claims ready for submission very soon against policemen for similar violence. We will make sure that every policeman who abused the demonstrators is brought to justice."