WEST BANK: Palestinian father imprisoned his two mentally disabled children for 20 years, police say

Record ID: 561237

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian father imprisoned his two mentally disabled children for 20 years, police say
  • Date: 28th August 2008
  • Summary: (BN11) BEIT AWA, WEST BANK (AUGUST 26, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN POLICE ARRIVING AT HOUSE WHERE MENTALLY DISABLED MAN AND HIS SISTER HAVE BEEN LOCKED IN ROOM VARIOUS OF MENTALLY DISABLED MAN IN ROOM MENTALLY DISABLED WOMAN IN ROOM SLEEPING AREA WHERE BROTHER AND SISTER LIVED BROTHER IN ROOM POLICE CONDUCTING CRIMINAL AND POLITICAL RAIDS IN AREA VARIOUS OF SECURITY FORCES AND POLICE IN AREA
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAEBTTS3N3ART3BBVCOVJC0TKGP
  • Story Text: Palestinian police say they have discovered a mentally disabled brother and sister who were imprisoned by their father for 20 years in a cellar under family house.
    A Palestinian man imprisoned his two mentally disabled children for over 20 years in two rooms which he built under his house because he was ashamed of them, a Palestinian police statement read on Tuesday (August 26).
    Police officers found the brother and sister, in their thirties, in an unlit and unventilated room under the main house, during a raid against suspected arms and drug dealers in the West Bank village of Beit Awa south of Hebron.
    The two were found to be living in horrid conditions, with the smell of urine and faeces lingering in the rooms in which they were confined.
    According to police, the father of the mentally disabled siblings told police he jailed his children to protect them from people who would laugh at them or hurt them. He added that he was somewhat ashamed of the two but had cared for them, providing them with food, and kept them away from neighbours who assumed the two were being institutionalised elsewhere. Police said the father had been arrested, and the children sent to a psychiatric hospital.
    The psychiatric hospital where the two siblings are being held was familiar with their case. A hospital administrator said that, contrary to the police statement, the two were brought over several years ago, and were released back to their families after a few months.

    "They were admitted to this charitable organisation a couple of years ago, and were admitted for a period of time. But their situation did not suit the circumstances of this organisation from the perspective of being able to live according to the standards required by the hospital. And they affect the people around them. So there was a decision of the previous board to release them," Mohamad Misk General Secretary of AlIhsan Charitable Society told Reuters.
    The two were readmitted to the same psychiatric hospital, which had previously released them, for a one month trial period.

    "A place should be made for them in their village, and their closest relatives should be able to take care of them. The whole village should work together to find the appropriate place, food, and manpower to take care of them," Misk added, explaining that the two might not be allowed to stay if viewed as unfit for the hospital.
    The hospital hosts approximately 100 mentally disabled people. Sixty percent of them are children with severe mental disabilities. Misk says he is working to maintain the institute, despite the lack of government and private funds.

    "We have a hundred cases of the severely mentally disabled that are deprived and cannot speak, nor feed themselves. We were created for those people, but as the general secretary - I say it bluntly - if things remain as they are, and the Authority remains distant from paying their dues, and the people are not contributing by giving a helping hand to the organisation - I tell you with all honesty, the institute is in danger, in danger, in danger," Misk said.
    The children's mother died years ago and their father remarried. He has two children from his second marriage.
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