Abu Dis schoolboy arrested yesterday 25th Jan

(Recent family pic: from left to right, back row: Anas (from the CADFAOctober youth visit), Ahmad their cousin (talked about in the CADFA book 'For Hammam'), Abdullah (who has just been arrested), Yazan (footballer who came to London on the CADFA football visit 2012), front row: Khalid and Mohammed.

Young Abdullah Abu Helal was arrested at Container checkpoint yesterday on his way back home from Bethlehem. Abdullah is 17 and a student at Abu Dis Boys' School. Many of you have met people in his family. He is the brother of Anas who did so well on the CADFA youth visit in October 2014. Another brother Yazan was one of the footballers who came on a CADFA football visit in 2012.

No one expected his arrest and a huge amount of energy was put into arguing for his freedom before he was taken away. Convinced of his innocence, his father Eyad (who used to work in the CADFA clinic in Abu Dis) and Dr Abdullah (whom many of you know) spent two hours at the checkpoint, calling Abed from Dar Assadaqa and CADFA who called B'tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation. Between them they tried to prevent the arrest while he was held at the checkpoint. But he was taken in a military jeep to the military camp in Abu Dis, presumably en route to Maale Adumim police station. The family have heard from people in touch with prisoners (because the army will not tell them) that Abdullah is now in Atzion interrogation centre.

Now the Israeli military have not given any information to the family but apparently in cases like this they usually give themselves the right to hold a prisoner for 18 days before he even sees a lawyer. This can be extended by another 18 and another 18 until they reach 96.

Good luck to Abdullah; we hear terrible things about what happens in Atzion. Good luck to his family: we hope they can hear from him and visit him before too long and we hope that he is freed soon.

When we hear these horrible stories and know each time that he is one of many, the question always is what can we do? This is of course a general question but also a question about Abdullah. Sometimes pressure from abroad has helped with the release of people whose families had almost given up. We know Abdullah's family (see pictures attached) and we have a long relationship with his school. The youth links group will be meeting later this week; we'll help them if they choose to adopt Abdullah's case and will pass on requests for action.