Israeli forces detain 14-year-old Palestinian without charge or trial
Muin Ghassan Fahed Salahat
Middle East Eye reports on 5 March 2025:
Israel has issued an administrative detention order against a 14-year-old Palestinian, making him the youngest child administrative detainee on record, according to the watchdog Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP).
Muin Ghassan Fahed Salahat was arrested by Israeli forces during a pre-dawn raid on his home in Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on 19 February.
DCIP reported that Israeli soldiers stormed his home at 3:40am, detaining, blindfolding and cuffing his father. When Muin awoke, he was also seized, and soldiers attempted to blindfold him and his tie his hands behind his back as they took him away. Muin’s father was warned not to move for at least 10 minutes.
Salahat was then issued a four-month administrative detention order on 2 March, and is now being held without charge or trial. DCIP said he is the youngest Palestinian child to be placed under the order since the watchdog began monitoring administrative detainees in 2008. As with other administrative detainees, Salahat is now being held without charge or trial on “secret evidence” not disclosed to him or his lawyer. His detention is set from 2 March to 18 June, with a review by an Israeli military court scheduled within 12 days.
DCIP noted that this marks a significant shift from policy prior to 7 October 2023, when reviews were conducted within four days. Now, the watchdog said, orders are delayed further, which in turn delays the review.
The watchdog said, citing data from the Israel Prison Service, that Salahat is among 112 Palestinian children held in Israeli administrative detention as of 31 December 2024- the highest ever number of child detainees recorded by DCIP since 2008.
‘A dangerous precedent’
Israel has long wielded the practice of administrative detention against Palestinians, including children, enabling authorities to prolong periods of detention without charge or trial- which DCIP said is tantamount to arbitrary detention and constitutes a violation of international law.
Since 7 October, Israeli forces have severely curtailed legal access for detainees, with legal representatives barred from seeing their clients or any evidence and facing a series of bureaucratic hurdles that make it impossible to mount a defence.
“Administrative detention violates fundamental due process rights, yet Israeli forces are now expanding this draconian policy to detain Palestinian children indefinitely without charge or trial,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability programme director at DCIP, said.
“Muin’s case sets a dangerous precedent, showing that no Palestinian child, regardless of age, is safe from arbitrary imprisonment under Israel’s military rule.”
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