Last week, Al-Haq documented a particularly disturbing case of abduction and severe physical assault of a Palestinian youth by the Israeli military. ‘Uday Nasri Abu-Mariyya, 19 years old, of Beit Ummar village (Hebron Governorate), was beaten to the extent that he required surgery to repair a tear in his intestines caused by the assault. Al-Haq denounces the delay and difficulties ‘Uday faced in order to receive proper medical treatment in Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank. Al-Haq reiterates its concern about the frequency with which the Israeli army arbitrarily arrests Palestinians, who are subsequently abused and left without appropriate legal remedies to redress their harm.

‘Uday Nasri Abu-Mariyya

On Tuesday 31 July at approximately 10:30 pm, ‘Uday was returning alone to his home from the mosque, along Road 60, which connects the village of Beit Ummar with Hebron. When he passed by an Israeli military observation tower, he saw that three Israeli soldiers had stopped two Palestinians and asked them for their identification cards. The soldiers then ordered ‘Uday to come towards them and demanded to see his ID as well. The soldiers returned the IDs to the other two Palestinians who then left while ‘Uday was ordered to stay at the tower. He was forced to wait until nearly 11:00 pm and when ’Uday asked why he had been stopped one of the soldiers replied that he would be ‘submitted for investigation’.

‘Uday recalls that some of his family members passed by and stopped but they were forced to leave by the soldiers. At that point, a military jeep arrived at the observation tower and two soldiers disembarked carrying plastic handcuffs and a blindfold. ‘Uday asked why he was being arrested, but instead of answering, a soldier began swearing and violently dragged him towards the jeep. When ‘Uday asked if he could make a phone call to his family he was told that soldiers were not authorised to allow this. After being tightly handcuffed and blindfolded, ‘Uday was forced into the back seat of the jeep where one of the soldiers punched him on his left side and then struck him with the rifle in the same place. The jeep left the tower and along the route a soldier kept striking ‘Uday in the face.

Approximately five minutes later, the jeep stopped and the soldiers took ‘Uday to a caravan where six soldiers start kicking, punching and slapping him repeatedly in his abdomen and head. While beating ‘Uday the soldiers were laughing, cursing and verbally abusing him. Five minutes later the soldiers stopped and ‘Uday told them he would submit a complaint before a court concerning his ill-treatment. Immediately after stating this, one of the soldiers lifted him up and dragged him out of the caravan, hitting him violently and repeatedly in the stomach. Despite ‘Uday screaming in pain, the soldiers continued the beating.

The assault lasted for almost two hours and left ‘Uday with excruciating pain all over his body, especially in his abdomen, handcuffed wrists and shoulders. Afterwards the soldiers took him to a place ‘Uday recognised as a gate of the settlement ‘Karem Zour’, which is the closest settlement to Beit Ummar. ‘Uday was forced to wait for approximately one hour, during which time some soldiers hit his head against the wall several times. Eventually the soldiers took him back to the observation tower in Beit Ummar. At that point ‘Uday’s family members arrived at the observation tower and demanded that the soldiers release ‘Uday. Nearly four hours after being stopped by the Israeli military, the soldiers finally released ‘Uday.

On 1 August, at approximately 2:30 am, ‘Uday returned to his home feeling exhausted and with stabbing pains in his abdomen. His health condition deteriorated during the night and at 5:00 am he began to vomit. At 6:30 am Uday went to ‘Aliya Hospital in Hebron, where the doctors told him he had severe bruising, gave him some analgesics and sent him home. Back home ‘Uday was still in acute pain, and so he tried to get a second opinion but was unable to secure a visit with another doctor. He bought more analgesic and returned home where his situation deteriorated further.

At approximately 10:00 pm, ‘Uday was taken to al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron where he waited to be examined. Muhammad, one of ‘Uday’s brothers, worried about his worsening state and lack of attention from the hospital staff, took him to ‘Aliya Hospital once more. There, the doctors told ‘Uday to wait until the following morning to start the medical tests, and when his family demanded to talk to a doctor, they were informed that the doctors were not present.

Despite his disappointment at the diagnosis of some doctors and the negligence of others, Muhammad had no choice other than to take his brother to al-Ahli Hospital once again where ‘Uday was hospitalised and underwent medical tests. The following morning, the doctors suggested that they carry out exploratory surgery to diagnose the problem in ‘Uday’s abdomen. Ayman, another brother of ‘Uday’s, who is a doctor in Haddasa ‘Ein Karim Hospital in Jerusalem, disagreed with the surgery and began processing the documents that would allow for ‘Uday’s hospitalisation at the Haddasa ‘Ein Karim Hospital. ‘Uday was finally hospitalised in Jerusalem on 2 August, where he underwent medical tests and x-rays that revealed a tear in his intestines that had been caused by the beating.

‘Uday was forced to undergo emergency surgery that lasted almost two hours and successfully managed to repair the hole in his intestines. He received 20 stitches and is due to leave the hospital on Saturday 10 August 2012. (Affidavit No. 7620/2012)