JERUSALEM, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Three Israeli soldiers were convicted on Thursday of abusing two handcuffed Palestinian detainees, a father and his teen son, in the West Bank in January.
The soldiers were convicted amid a plea deal, which was approved Thursday by a military court in Jaffa in central Israel. Under the deal, the three pleaded guilty of "aggravated abuse" of a 50-year-old Palestinian and his 15-year-old son.
The sentence of the soldiers, all from the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda ("Judah's Eternity" in Hebrew) Battalion, is expected to be given next Tuesday.
The recent conviction is the first to be made in the case, in which two other soldiers and their commander were also charged.
According to their indictment, they stroke the detainees with slaps, punches, and bludgeons while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, and caused them severe injuries.
The victims were arrested in a raid in the town of al-Zaitounah in the Ramallah district on Jan. 8. During their transfer to detention, the soldiers took the blindfold off the son's eyes and forced him watching his father beaten up until his ribs and nose were broken.
The father and his son sustained serious injuries and needed hospital care.
The soldiers recorded themselves abusing the detainees with their smartphones and according to the indictment, they were cheering and boasting during the violence.
The commanding officer was indicted for "failing to prevent a crime, negligently causing injury and conducting unbecomingly as an officer."
Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups often report abuses of Palestinians' rights during arrests but these allegations are usually not followed with indictments.
