Military and ISA take over home of Burin principal, convert it to interrogation center

[Jefferson23]

Night-time raid, 13 Nov. 2013: Military and ISA take over home of Burin principal, convert it to interrogation center

Published:
19 Dec 2013

On Wednesday, 13 November 2013, shortly before 3 A.M., the ‘Umran family of the village of Burin, south of Nablus, were awakened by knocking at their door. Ibrahim ‘Umran, 52, principal of the village high-school, got out of bed and opened the front door. He found a group of soldiers at the door and saw several military vehicles parked outside. ‘Umran related to B’Tselem field researcher ‘Abd al-Karim Sa’adi what happened next:

Ibrahim 'Umran. Photo: 'Abd al-Karim Sa'adi,B’Tselem, 13 November 2013.I asked the soldiers what they wanted. One of them, a Druze officer who arrested me along with six of my students this past April, said: “Hello there, Mr. Principal, do you recognize me?” I told him that I did. He entered the house with the other soldiers. My wife and children were in the living room. Some of the soldiers went up onto the roof and others stayed outside. The Druze officer ordered my wife and kids to leave the living room and go to their rooms, and another officer told me that they were going to bring over for questioning residents from the village who used to be students at my high school. I didn’t believe him. I went into the bedroom and looked through the window that overlooks the yard. I saw soldiers standing there with villagers that they’d arrested. The arrested men were blindfolded and their hands cuffed.

‘Umran said that after the rest of his family left the living room, soldiers began bringing in villagers who had been taken from their homes and held outside his house. All in all, 11 residents, ranging in age from 20 to 43, were brought in to his home one by one and questioned by Israel Security Agency (ISA) interrogators regarding alleged participation in stone-throwing. Testimonies that the interrogated residents gave B’Tselem indicate that the questioning was aimed at motivating the men to prevent stone-throwing in the village and that no charges were made personally against these villagers.

‘Umran, who was present throughout the questioning, reported that when each session ended the ISA interrogator called him over and asked him, in front of the detained resident: “Do you teach your students to throw stones?”. Then the resident was ordered to shake hands with ‘Umran and leave the house.

Mursi ‘Eid, a 40-year-old father of six, described his questioning to B’Tselem:

in full: http://www.btselem.org/beating_and_abuse/20131218_burin_night_time_interrogations