Police say autistic Arab Israeli teen detained on suspicion of aiding Hamas, ISIS

Police plan to indict a 14-year-old suspected of trying to aid ISIS and Hamas, law enforcement announced Friday, after submitting a prosecutor’s declaration against the youth.

The teenager, who is diagnosed with autism, allegedly contacted both terror groups with footage and photos of buildings belonging to Israeli security forces. Police said he also tried to manufacture explosives to aid terrorist elements, but did not make clear whether he managed to create a functioning bomb.

Speaking to The Times of Israel earlier this week about the case, the youth’s defense attorney Igal Dotan said he was detained on October 17 while visiting his mother’s family in Ramallah.

Charges are set to be filed in the next few days against the 14-year-old, whose name is barred from publication due to his status as a minor.

Detectives in the Tel Aviv District police’s investigations and intelligence unit have been conducting a covert investigation into the youth over the past few weeks, which was subject to a gag order.

Dotan, who works in the Public Defender’s Office, slammed the police’s announcement of the investigation. He called it “very egregious” for law enforcement to publish details from the probe, “seemingly in direct violation of a 30-day gag order issued by the court 14 days ago at the police’s request.”

He added that police have “no reason to boast” about “an investigation of an autistic child who is being held in detention under inhumane conditions.”

The youth is currently being held in the Russian Compound, a detention facility in Jerusalem, where Dotan claimed he had been subjected to beatings by guards and other inmates.

The boy’s mother told Haaretz that her son has “known and officially recognized mental and physical issues.”

“He is not a terrorist, nor does he pose a danger to anyone — he is a sick, innocent child completely dependent on his mother for care and support,” she said. She urged that her son be released from prison and undergo a psychiatric examination by a neutral party.

Dotan said that his client, in addition to having endured beatings in prison, is suffering from other inhumane conditions while in detention.

“He is receiving extremely harsh treatment — beatings, abuse, humiliation, starvation. He’s freezing and doesn’t even have the most basic things, like a mattress,” the lawyer told The Times of Israel.

The Israel Prison Service rejected claims of mistreatment. In a statement, the agency said “the detainee has been examined several times by medical personnel during his detention and was found to be in good condition, with no signs of injury or harm.”