Thu, August 28, 2008
Brother and sister, and the gruesome cell where police say they lived for 20 years.
Palestinian police say the mentally disabled siblings were locked away by their father because he was ashamed of them.
They were found during a police drugs raid.
The room was unlit and unventilated - and it stank, although father said he kept them as humanely as possible, and locked them away for their own protection.
However, a local psychiatric hospital told a different story - that the pair had been in and out of hospital in recent years:
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE AL-IHSAN CHARITABLE SOCIETY, MOHAMMED EID MISK, SAYING:
"They were admitted to this charity a couple of years ago for a period of time. But their situation did not suit the organisation - they couldn't live according to the standards required by the hospital. And they affect the people around them. So it was a decision of the previous board to release them."
The hospital director said he was working hard to run the hospital in the total absence of government funding.
It's a case which highlights the plight of the mentally disabled in a society where mental health is often taboo.
