Officers seen abusing what appears to be mentally disabled man in 2009 video presented as evidence in trial against 4 officers.
By BEN HARTMANBorder Police forces 311 (R)(photo credit: Ammar Awad / Reuters)
Border police abuse what appears to be a mentally disabled Palestinian man, in a video that was presented as evidence on Thursday in an trial against four officers.In the video, which was shot in 2009 next to the al- Jib checkpoint north of Jerusalem, the officers yell at the Palestinian man, “Where’s your identity card?” and shout at him that the police dog next to him will bite him if he doesn’t answer.The man, who was detained for not having an ID card on him, was sitting in the back of a Border Police jeep during the incident.Throughout the video he sobs loudly as he pleads that he doesn’t have his card or know his ID number.The officers throw water at the man several times, yell at him, “Don’t cry like a whore!” and throw a plastic water bottle at him that hits his face.The video was filmed by one of the officers on his cellphone and a few months after it was shot made its way to the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department, which opened the case.One of the officers’ lawyers, Moshe Oren, said on Thursday that the incident did not constitute humiliation. “It is true that things were done that legally shouldn’t be done, but that don’t count as abuse,” he said.The Border Police said that the video and the images it shows “do not represent the spirit of the organization and the values its stands for.”
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