A 13-year-old American Palestinian boy who was detained in an Israeli prison was released on Wednesday, December 20. The family of Malik Jaffal has alleged he was shot in the arm, and later strip-searched, interrogated and falsely arrested.
Malik said he spent a week in Ofer military prison, confined in a small room with 12 other boys, with no soap and showers. He reportedly refused to falsely confess he hurled rocks at soldiers.
On November 1, Israeli soldiers shot Malik in the arm while he was on his way home from playing soccer with friends. He made the revelations in an interview that his US-born mother, Dunia Mustafa, translated, according to NBC News.
‘What about my child’s rights?’
Malik was treated at a Bethlehem hospital. Months after being released from the hospital, Israeli soldiers visited his house late at night, wanting to speak with him. Malik’s father, Mohammed, woke him up.
“They made him take off all his clothes, and he just stayed in his briefs and they checked his whole body,” Mustafa said. “And he told them that I’m cold, that I want to get dressed. They said, you know, you’re not allowed to get dressed till we finish with you.”
Malik was asked to show his arm because the soldiers did not believe he was shot. They began questioning him about his other injuries, like a bruise on his knee and one he received after falling off a motorbike.
{{/usCountry}}Malik was asked to show his arm because the soldiers did not believe he was shot. They began questioning him about his other injuries, like a bruise on his knee and one he received after falling off a motorbike.
{{/usCountry}}Malik and his father were then taken to a police station. The child was allegedly interrogated for two hours in the absence of a parent. “They were showing him videos of people throwing rocks and saying that ‘that’s you’ and saying, ‘It’s you, and confess to us that’s you,’” Mustafa said. “Yelling at him, calling him a liar, and he kept saying that that’s not me.”
Mustafa, on the night Malik was arrested, reportedly told an Israeli soldier that she and her son were US citizens. Mustafa was born in Brooklyn, New York.
“I looked him in the eye, and I said: ‘What about my child’s rights? He’s a minor, an underage minor that holds an American citizen passport,’” Mustafa said. “He just looked at me and he said, ‘Your son doesn’t have rights in Israel.’”
‘Justice for Malik’ petition
A change.org petition, titled ‘Justice for Malik,’ has now been set up for the boy. “If he doesn’t falsely confess to the crime of throwing rocks, the occupation forces are threatening to arrest his parents,” the petition says.
It adds that Mustafa says “the Israeli government is aware that Malik is a US citizen and are denying him basic rights.” “Although a minor, Malik is scheduled to appear in court with no family members allowed to watch,” states the petition.