VARIOUS: The aunt of a Palestinian-American teenager who was allegedly beaten severely by Israeli police speaks out against his beating

Record ID: 492037

  • Title: VARIOUS: The aunt of a Palestinian-American teenager who was allegedly beaten severely by Israeli police speaks out against his beating
  • Date: 6th July 2014
  • Summary: SHOAFAT, JERUSALEM (JULY 6, 2014) (REUTERS) RELEASED U.S TEEN TARIQ KHDEIR AND HIS MOTHER COMING OUT OF CAR THAT CARRIED THEM TO HIS RELATIVES' HOME POSTER OF SLAIN PALESTINIAN TEEN MOHAMMED ABU KHUDAIR WHO WAS THE COUSIN TO RELEASED U.S. TEEN TARIQ KHDEIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S TEEN RELEASED FROM ISRAELI JAIL, TARIQ KHDEIR, SAYING: "I was actually brutally attacked from the side and heard somebody screaming. They came and attacked me and I actually went unconscious and I woke up in the hospital." MORE OF ABU KHUDAIR POSTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S TEEN TARIQ KHDEIR ANSWERING REPORTER'S QUESTIONS AND SAYING: (Q: "Why did they attack you?") I don't know. That's why I ran. (Q: They said that you were throwing stones") No, I jumped the fence and I tried to run away. Because I just saw somebody running at me so I tried to run away."
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8IHWNIZAX47GT79ECR0PQKNP8
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The aunt of a Palestinian-American teenager who was allegedly beaten at the hands of Israeli police spoke out on Sunday (July 6) against his attack.
    Florida resident Suhad Abu Khudair spoke to a reporter outside a home in Tampa, where 15-year-old Tariq Khudair of Palestinian decent is a resident.
    She said the amateur video that reportedly captured his beating by Israeli police in East Jerusalem last week shows that the attack was out of proportion and "unjust".

    "It's so, so unjust because you can see on the video they are fully armed head to toe and he's just an unarmed American teenager," she said.
    A video clip circulated on the Internet showed two Israeli border policemen holding down and repeatedly pummeling a masked youth before carrying him away.
    A later part of the video shows Khudair's face with a heavy black eye and swollen lip.
    Tariq was a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16, whose abduction and killing in Jerusalem on Wednesday (July 2) sparked violent protests and calls from Palestinians for a new uprising against Israel.
    Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Tariq was one of six protesters caught and detained on Thursday (July 3) during clashes with police. Tariq's mother told Reuters her son was watching the protest and had not taken part.
    She said the family was planning to return to the United States on July 16.
    Tariq was initially arrested but later released by a judge and placed under house arrest.
    Upon his release, he told media on Sunday that he was attacked for no reason.

    "I was actually brutally attacked from the side and heard somebody screaming. They came and attacked me and I actually went unconscious and I woke up in the hospital," Tariq said as he arrived at his relatives' home.
    A lawyer for Tariq, a high school student who was visiting family in East Jerusalem, said the youngster would be restricted to a relative's home for nine days.
    Many Palestinians, including President Mahmoud Abbas, say Abu Khudair, Tariq's cousin, was the victim of right-wing Jews avenging the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers, who disappeared while hitchhiking in the occupied West Bank on June 12, and whose bodies were found on Monday.
    Tariq's beating by Israeli police has drawn U.S. concern.
    On Saturday (July 5), U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that an American consular officer had visited Tariq during his detention, and on Sunday the U.S. State Department released a short statement saying it was "profoundly troubled" by reports of his beating and demanded an investigation.
    Israel's Justice Ministry said the police internal affairs department had opened an investigation into allegations of the beating.
    An Israeli security source said on Sunday that six Jewish suspects have been arrested in the investigation into Abu Khudair's death have been arrested. The source did not identify them.
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