Spokesperson for the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert
Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 30 July 2019
Subject: (1) OPT
(2) Bahrain
1) We are very concerned by the
critical condition of a nine-year-old Palestinian child, Abdul Rahman Shteiwi,
after he was shot in the head by the Israeli Security Forces (ISF) on 12 July,
in what appears to have been an example of excessive use of force. While it has
been reported that the Israeli Defense Forces have opened an internal
investigation, we call on the Israeli authorities to conduct a thorough,
effective, impartial and independent investigation into the incident, and to
make sure that those responsible for any wrongdoing are held accountable.
The incident occurred during a
weekly protest in the village of Kafr Qaddum, near Nablus. While protesters
were burning tires and throwing stones at the ISF, Israeli soldiers -- after
initially responding with rubber bullets and stun grenades – reportedly
resorted to using live ammunition, without apparent reason to justify the move
to use of lethal force.
According to several credible
sources, this nine-year-old child, Abdul Rahman, was not taking an active part
in the protest. He was reportedly over 100 metres away from the clashes, and
manifestly did not present an imminent physical threat to the ISF.
The shot to his forehead resulted
in a large hole and multiple skull fractures. Initially taken to a hospital in
Nablus, he was later transferred to an Israeli hospital, where he remains alive
but in a critical condition. Scans show dozens of fragments in the child’s head
resulting in serious brain damage, from which he is unlikely to recover, even
if he survives.
The shooting of Abdul Rahman is one
of the latest in a long list of incidents in the occupied Palestinian Territory
in which children and juveniles have been injured or killed in circumstances
that strongly suggest excessive force was used by the ISF.
At the Israel-Gaza fence, after 10 weeks had
passed without fatalities at the demonstrations, a 22-year old man was shot and
killed by live ammunition on 26 July. However, over the same period, 102
children, mostly teenagers, have been injured by live ammunition fired by the
ISF at the fence.
Use of force must be exceptional,
and lethal force should only be used in circumstances where there is an
imminent threat of death or serious injury to security forces or other
individuals, and in strict application of international human rights
standards*. Once again, we urge Israel to review the rules of engagement of its
security forces, and ensure they are in line with international standards,
applicable in all countries.
Children must be afforded special
protection. They must not be targeted, and must not be put at risk of violence
nor encouraged to participate in violence.
2) We strongly condemn the
execution on 26 July in Manama of two Bahraini citizens, Ali Mohamed Hakeem
Al-Arab, 25, and Ahmed Isa Al-Malali, 24. The executions went ahead on Friday
night, despite concerns expressed by the High Commissioner, following two earlier
public statements by UN human rights experts,* about allegations that the men’s
“confessions” were obtained through torture, and about lack of due process and
fair trial guarantees. A third man, a migrant worker, was also executed after
being convicted of murder.
Al-Arab and Al-Malali were arrested
separately in February 2017. They were both tried in a mass hearing with 58
other defendants, and convicted in January 2018 on charges of terrorism. They
were sentenced to death. In May 2019, the Court of Cassation upheld the death
sentence, despite the fact that both clearly indicated that they were tortured
to confess to crimes they had not committed.
We are also very concerned about
the future of other detainees who remain on death row in Bahrain and are at
risk of imminent execution. We call on the Bahraini Government to halt all
pending executions, and ensure a re-trial of these and other defendants whose
rights may have been violated.
We fully support the call by the UN
experts for the Bahraini authorities to establish an official moratorium on all
executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
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