Testimonies

'Ali 'Ayid, 16

I live with my family in the al-Ghazayel neighborhood in Jabel al-Mukaber. Our house has two stories. We have a backyard yard with a storage room in which we raise horses. There is a big gate that leads from the yard into a side street.

On Saturday, 8 September, at around three in the afternoon, my brother Maymun and I were cleaning the yard of trash and he went to buy some garbage bags at a store near the house. Less than two minutes after he left, a Border Police jeep came speeding into the yard and stopped.

I was just feeding one of our horses. I was startled and turned to run away. I grabbed the rope around the horse's neck and tried to lead it away. The border policemen quickly got out of the jeep. One of them was an Ethiopian with a beard. Another was tall and bald with dark brown skin. The Ethiopian policeman started beating me with a club. He also hit the horse. I let go of the rope and the horse ran away. The policeman continued to beat me.

The other two policemen beat me with their clubs too. They hit me all over my body. They didn't say anything to me and didn't ask for my ID card. I didn't know why they were beating me. I fell to the ground, and when I tried to get up, they continued beating me. I managed to get up and run toward the house. They followed me and beat me some more. I went into the house, slipped, and fell on the steps. The policemen kept beating me with their clubs. One of them kicked me in the head.

Maymun returned and tried to get them off of me. They beat him with their clubs. One of them grabbed me by the leg and pulled me outside. They pulled Meymun outside too. When we were outside, a few neighbors came to see what was happening. One of the policemen fired into the air. Then they stopped beating us. They stayed in the yard for a few more minutes.

A few minutes later, a lot of police officers arrived. They sprayed gas at us. One policeman sprayed gas in my face, and I fell to the ground. I felt as if I was choking. He kicked me all over my body. I think somebody else was also beating me, but I didn't see him because I couldn't open my eyes. Right after that, I fainted. I woke up a few hours later at home. My mother told me that the policemen had left a summons for me to go to the Oz police station [in the Armon Hanaziv neighborhood] the next morning.

The next morning, Sunday, I went to the station and a policeman questioned me. He accused me of assaulting the policemen. I told him what happened. They held me at the Russian Compound detention center until Monday night. Then they released me and put me under house arrest for five days.

''Ali Khirallah 'Ali 'Ayid, 16, is a student and a resident of Jabel al-Mukaber in East Jerusalem. His testimony was given to Kareem Jubran at the witness' home on 11 September 2007.