Israeli police officers accuses of branding Palestinian man’s face with a Star of David while violently arresting him without recording the incident on their body cameras.
The claim, issued by lawyers representing Arwa Sheikh Ali, 22, has been disputed by Israel’s police force, who claim the mark was “presumably” caused by pressure from a shoelace on an arresting officer’s boot.
A photograph taken of Mr Sheikh Ali, who was arrested on drugs charges, showed wounds on his left cheek, underneath a black eye, which seemed to resemble the Jewish religious symbol.
Mr Sheikh Ali’s lawyer claimed that he was brutally beaten by officers before being branded with the mark.
The arrest occurred in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, where Mr Sheikh Ali lives, as part of a drug investigation. Mr Sheikh Ali has denied all criminal charges, according to his lawyer.
Israeli police insisted that they had used reasonable force and said the suspect violently resisted arrest. They also dismissed the branding claim as “misleading and distorted”.
Officers instead suggested that a patterned shoelace on an officer’s boot was “presumably” imprinted on the suspect’s face while they were restraining him. Police issued a photograph to Israeli media outlets of the type of boot which they said may have been responsible for the triangular marks.
