Soldiers arresting Beit Rima resident violently attack him and his family

[Jefferson23]

Full title: Soldiers arresting Beit Rima resident violently attack him and his family, leave his brother unconscious in street

Published:

16 Apr 2015

At around 2:30 A.M on Sunday, 18 January 2015, the military arrived at the Ya’qub family home in the village of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah. Entering the house, soldiers arrested ‘Ali Talji Ya’qub, 21, beating him and three of his relatives. The soldiers dragged ‘Ali’s brother, Ya’qub Talji Ya’qub, 31, out into the street and left him lying there, unconscious.

The building where the extended Ya’qub family resides has three residential stories, with a separate apartment on each floor, as well as a basement. In the testimonies they gave to B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad, members of the family said that on the night of the incident forty or so people – including some visiting relatives – were sleeping in the house. Most were sleeping in the ground floor apartment. Talji Ya’qub, the father of the family, lives with his second wife, Sabah Salem, 45, and their young children in the second-floor apartment. Two of Talji’s older sons – ‘Ali, 21, and Basel, 17 – were spending the night with them in the apartment, as the guests were sleeping on the ground floor.

At around 2:30 A.M., the family was awakened by a large group of soldiers entering the ground floor apartment of the building. Upon entering the house, a few soldiers headed directly to Ya’qub’s room, located at the far end of the apartment.

Rajaa Huda Ya’qub, 49, Ya’qub’s mother, who lives in that apartment, said that she woke up when she heard the door open. When she went out to the living room, she saw soldiers walking toward Ya’qub’s room who had been released from a lengthy prison-term three months earlier:

in full: http://www.btselem.org/beating_and_abuse/20150416_beit_rima