A 26-year-old Palestinian man from Jenin was severely beaten by Israeli police officers in Daliat al-Carmel two weeks ago and dumped at a checkpoint, according to a complaint he filed with the internal affairs unit. Police say they believe the man was in Israel illegally.
The internal affairs unit is investigating the man’s allegations, but said it could not divulge details of the investigation.
Doctors removed Rami Washahi’s spleen to curtail his abdominal bleeding, and he was hospitalized for four days, Washahi said.
According to Washahi and his lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, the police attempted to cover up the beating.
“In releasing Washahi several hours after his arrest, the police tried to conceal the evidence of the violence that was used against him, and of his injuries,” said Abu Hussein.
The police also ordered Washahi to state that he was not harmed while in custody, and they did not take him to the hospital even though they knew he was in pain, Washahi said. Instead, they brought him to a Haifa police station and from there to the Jalameh crossing, near Jenin, where he was released.
Washahi and a friend of his were arrested two weeks ago in Daliat al-Carmel when police found them sleeping in a tin shack at 5 A.M. and determined that they did not have permits to be in the country.
The police officers hit and kicked Washahi severely, causing abdominal pain, after which they brought him to the Isfiya police station for questioning, he said.
The friend who was arrested with Washahi was questioned and taken to court for a hearing, as were other allegedly illegal residents arrested the same day, Abu Hussein said in the complaint filed with police investigators.
Police said they were not aware of Washahi’s allegations.
“The police carry out routine and constant activities against the phenomenon of illegal residents, while preserving their rights,” police said in a statement.
The incident comes less than two months after Haaretz reported that police took custody of another illegal Palestinian resident, Omar Abu Jariban, and left him to die on the side of the road. In that case, which took place four years ago, the Palestinian man, 35, was injured in a car accident on Route 6 involving a car he is suspected of having stolen. But though Abu Jariban ? clad only in a hospital gown ? was confused, barely ambulatory and attached to a catheter, Rehovot police dumped him near a road closed to Palestinians, without food, drink or medical care. He was found dead a few days later.
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