War in Gaza

👆👐 ‘Only democracy in the Middle East’ is running world’s only dedicated military prison for children

➡️📌 Situated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and created in 1988 out of a repurposed military base, Ofer Military Prison houses Palestinian minors as young as 12, prosecuted for offenses like stone-throwing.

🗣 Inmates face unsanitary living conditions, solitary confinement, no legal representation, Hebrew language-only trials, and shackling during proceedings. UNICEF says the prison had a systematic policy of threatening inmates with murder, physical violence and sexual assault.

“I’ve been behind these walls three times,” Australian journalist John Lyons documented. “I saw children shuffling across the courtyard handcuffed and shackled. Some hearings lasted 60 seconds…I saw the judge convict some children without even once looking at them. Through it all, what I saw was a conveyer belt of convicted children.”

❗️ The prison’s highly “efficient” court system touts a 99.74% conviction rate.

🔴 Ofer isn’t actually Israel’s only prison, with Megiddo Prison, Al Jalame Prison and Ktzi’ot Prison also known for the detention of Palestinian children, and their mistreatment. What makes Ofer unique is its formalized military court system for minors.

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