“The police are looking for progress in the investigation, at any price”

Monday, October 10 14:43 At the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court, the remand of an additional suspect in the northern Israel mosque arson incident was extended. Investigators from the National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations requested that his remand be extended by seven days, however Judge Nitza Maimon Shashua extended the remand by two days.
Yesterday the suspect was arrested when he arrived at the police station of his own volition, after investigators from the National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations requested that he give testimony on the incident. Afterwards the suspect was interrogated concerning his involvement with the arson, however he gave an alibi that proves that he was at his home at the time of the arson, and he denied all connection to the incident. There is a gag order on details of the suspect and the investigation.
Honenu attorney Adi Kedar, who represented the suspect, reported in response to the court’s decision that “The police themselves know that the suspect is not connected in any way to the incident. The suspect gave an alibi that he was not on the scene, and he denies the charges against him.”
Kedar added that “The fact that the suspect arrived at the investigation on his own initiative, and was arrested. And the fact that the Israeli Police didn’t find it appropriate to question his wife concerning his alibi, strengthens our feeling that there is no reason for his remand, and that it was intended merely to give an impression of progress in the investigation.”
Sources close to the detainee reported that “The police want to show progress at any price, even at the price of arresting a man who according to all opinions is innocent.”