Man imprisons his mentally ill children for 20 years

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian man imprisoned his two mentally ill children for more than 20 years in a dungeon he dug under his house because he was ashamed of them, Palestinian police said on Tuesday.

Police officers found the brother and his sister, in their 30s, in an unlit and unventilated dungeon during a raid against arms and drug dealers in the West Bank village of Beit Awa.

The father told police he has imprisoned his children because he did not want people to laugh at him for bringing "abnormal children to this world".

Police said the father had been arrested and the children were sent to a psychiatric hospital.

The children's mother died years ago and their father remarried. He has two children from his second marriage.

Police declined to give his name or other details.

(Reporting by Haitham Tamimi, writing by Joseph Nasr, editing by Angus MacSwan)