Amnesty urges Israel to free 16-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi
Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 15 January 2018| 27 Rabi ul Aakhir 1439
Amnesty International has urged Israeli authorities to release 16-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, ahead of a military court appearance today.
“Tamimi will go before Ofer military court in the occupied West Bank accused of aggravated assault and 11 other charges after a video showing her shoving, slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers in her home village of Nabi Saleh on 15 December went viral on Facebook,” Amnesty notes.
“Nothing that Ahed Tamimi has done can justify the continuing detention of a 16-year-old girl,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty.
Mughrabi continued: Ahed Tamimi’s ensuing arrest and military trial expose the Israeli authorities’ discriminatory treatment of Palestinian children who dare to stand up to ongoing, often brutal, repression by occupying forces.
Amnesty noted that “the incident took place on the same day that Ahed’s cousin, 15-year-old Mohammad Tamimi, was hit in the head at close range by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier.”
According to Amnesty, “under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a state party, the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
“Israel is clearly, brazenly flouting its obligations under international law to protect children from overly harsh criminal punishments,” Mughrabi added.
Source – MEMO
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