Israeli court refuses to release 11-year-old Palestinian prisoner

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The Israeli Court on Tuesday refused to release the youngest Palestinian youngest prisoner in Israeli jails, 11-year-old Ali Alqam.

The boy, from Shuafat refugee camp, reportedly will be sent to a Ministry of Welfare supervised residence for approximately one year, Ynet Hebrew newspaper said.

According to PIC, the court censored the majority of the ruling’s details because the defendant has not reached the legal age of criminal responsibility, 12, the newspaper said.

“According to the law, Israeli authorities cannot arrest or interrogate the 11-year-old boy under caution. This is the first time legal authorities have come across such a young detainee, thus they find themselves in a legal dilemma.”

After concluding his physical rehabilitation treatment at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, the young detainee was sent to a Ministry of Welfare supervised residence, where he can leave for short vacations and his parents can visit him, the newspaper said. In a year, the Magistrate Court will hold another hearing on whether or not he needs to stay at the supervised residence, taking into account the evaluations of Ministry of Welfare officials.

On the other hand, the lawyer Youssef Hadad said that the court postponed the hearing of Ali’s cousin Muawiya Alqam, 14, who was also arrested during the incident, till April 18. Muawiya refused to stay in a Welfare supervised residence and preferred to be held in HaSharon prison to be then moved to Megiddo prison.

The two boys from the Shuafat refugee camp were charged of carrying out a stabbing attack on the light rail train in occupied Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood on Nov.10, 2015.