Children's Trials in Military Prison

After interrogation, children are brought here for trial, Ofar

Military Prison, near Jerusalem.

The army would not let Four Corners film inside.

I've been behind these walls three times.

I saw children shuffling across the courtyard, handcuffed and

shackled. Some hearings lasted sixty seconds.

I saw one boy shout the name of his prison so his mother

would know where he was being held.

I saw the judge convict some children without even once looking

at them. Through it all, what I saw was a conveyor

belt of convicted children.

I think perhaps to give you some

indication

of how efficient from a, a military perspective this system is,

according to the military court's own records,

their annu- their annual report,

the, uh, courts have a conviction rate, um, of

around ninety-nine point seven four percent.

Typically, a Palestinian boy convicted of throwing

stones will be

sentenced to about three months imprisonment.

The United Nations Children's agency, UNICEF, last year

released a scathing report on Israel's system.

It found that Palestinian children had been threatened with death, physical

violence, solitary confinement, and sexual assault against

themselves or a family member.

The report found that that ill treatment was

widespread, systematic, and institutionalized throughout the

system

from the moment that the child was arrested right up until the

sentencing process.

Last month, under pressure from human rights groups,

Israel stopped the

longstanding practice of keeping children overnight in outdoor

cages.

Children had been kept freezing in the cages during snowstorms.