The Jerusalem Central Court sentenced two Israeli soldiers after convicting them of abusing and degrading two Palestinian residents studying at Abu Dis University, near
Jerusalem.
The students, Firas al-Bakri, 22, from Hebron, and Sameeh Rahhal, 22, from Jenin, were arrested on a military check post in Abu Dis, and were taken by the soldiers to an abandoned building in the city.
Soldiers Moshe Schneider was sentenced to eight consecutive months, and Soldiers Moshe Shveily was sentenced to four months in public services; the two soldiers were convicted of abducting the two students and attacking them.
The two students were clubbed on their hands, legs, backs, while the soldiers spitted on them and forced them to imitate sounds of animals, in addition to striking them with gun buts in several parts of their bodies.ÂÂ
The two soldiers admitted to the charges and claimed that the students entered Jerusalem without obtaining the needed permits.
The two students were arrested on a military checkpoint near Jerusalem, and not inside the city, therefore they were present in a Palestinian area on the time of their arrest.
Issa Qaraqe’, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said that the court’s ruling is considered weak when compared to what the soldiers did to the two students.
Qaraqe’ added that military checkpoints are one of the main obstacles the Palestinian face when moving between the Palestinian areas, adding that sick and elderly people and other urgent cases are forced to wait on the roadblocks, and in many cases are not allowed to pass.
