Last week, Rami was arrested documenting an IDF
raid on a Palestinian home (see
blog below), on the 23rd January, he was arrested and badly
beaten for filming the weekly demo against the wall after Friday prayer.
Rami informed us that after arriving at the
Friday demo next to the wall in Bethany, he was told to leave by IDF soldiers.
“They called me many times by my name” Rami told us “they know me and target
me”. Rami followed their instructions and left, returning to his shop.
He went on to tell us that having returned to
his shop, an IDF soldier who called Rami over, tied his hands behind his back and started to beat him. Soon, “around 10 soldiers came over and started to
beat me, I felt like I was leaving this life”. After 10 minutes of being kicked
by soldiers Rami told us that “a solider said I tried to hit a soldier and then
said I tried to escape”. Rami responded to the solider by asking “why would I
try to escape? I’m working, I’m a journalist.” This, Rami claimed, led to a
further and harder beating. During his beating, Rami told us that the IDF
soldiers said “This is a message from Atif, this is from
Atif” and reminded Rami that “you did something wrong to a big guy so you have
to bear this”.
Rami explained to us that Atif was one of the
soldiers identified in the footage of the Israeli soldiers beating up and
filming a 13-year old boy last year (see our previous blog below). Rami told us
that Atif is a senior officer or even commander in Abu Dis and the surrounding towns.
Following Rami’s exposure last year which according to one Israeli soldier
“made us look like beasts”, Rami has been targeted and this was retaliation for
making their senior office “look bad”.
Following the battering, they arrested Rami,
transported him to Ma’aliadumeem police station, charged him and after 6 hours,
released him after he paid a 2000 shekels bail charge. On the 22nd
August he must attend a second military court on charges of ‘disturbing a soldier’.
JD
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