Huzaifa Taha

Palestinian child prisoner Huzaifa Ishaq Abdel-Jawad Taha, 17, a Jerusalemite from the village of Kafr Aqab, was ordered to 12 years in Israeli prison on Sunday, 12 February. He is the latest Jerusalemite Palestinian child to receive a lengthy prison sentence after being accused of attempting to carry out a Palestinian resistance action by stabbing a settler in the illegal settlement of East Talpiyyot.

Huzaifa’s brother Abdullah was quoted by Asra Media, saying that the “harsh sentence” was “shocking, in light of all the contradictory evidence in the file, but the prosecutor insisted on this sentence with a racist mindset of ‘deterrence,’ especially against prisoners of Jerusalem.”  Huzaifa has been imprisoned since 4 January 2016 and was shot in the legs and hands with live bullets.

His sentencing follows that of Mohammed Taha and Munther al-Mayala, 16, sentenced to 11 years in Israeli prison; Ahmad Manasrah, 14, sentenced to 12 years; Nurhan Awad, 17, sentenced to 13 years; Muawiya Alqam, 14, sentenced to six years, and other harsh sentences meted out especially to Jerusalemite child prisoners.

Meanwhile, Yazan Mohammed Ayoub Abu Assab, 15, from Issawiya in Jerusalem, was sentenced to 10 months in Israeli prisons and accused of “throwing stones” at occupation forces.