Child’s finger cut off during interrogation

Family of child detainee Qassam Abu Baker, 15, from Yabod village, near the West Bank city of Jenin, filed a complaint to the Complaints Committee in Jerusalem against interrogators in Ofer Israeli detention facility after the finger of their child was chopped during interrogation. The family said that one of the interrogators threatened to cut the child’s fingers if he does not admit that “he was throwing stones at the soldiers”, but the boy denied the charge.

The interrogator forced the child to put his hand between the hinges of the door and slapped it closed resulting in the cutting on one of the boy’s fingers. The boy was transferred to Affoula hospital in northern Israel for treatment.

Abu Baker was arrested earlier this month when the soldiers invaded the village and operated there; Abu Baker and another child identified as Murad Kilani were arrested.

The two children were transferred to Salem Israeli Prison for interrogation, and were transferred later on to Ofer prison for further interrogation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) informed the father that his son, Qassam, was operated on at the prison hospital, which lacks the basic medical equipment, and that the finger of his son was cut off.

Qassam was transferred back to prison immediately after the operation, and was interrogated again, the father said.

The family expressed concerns over the health of their child, and called on human rights organizations to interfere and save his life.