Detained minor banned from meeting with attorney

Monday, April 13, 2015, 15:42 On Sunday, April 12 a youth was detained by the GSS on suspicion of involvement with an incident in which Arab property was set on fire. A gag order has been placed on the details of the investigation and of the detainee.
The youth is being held in a GSS facility and is not being permitted to meet with an attorney. In a deliberation at the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court on Monday, April 13 Honenu attorney Aharon Roza represented the youth and objected to the fact that he was not permitted to speak with his client. At the deliberation the police representative refused to specify the incident with which the youth is suspected of involvement or even the date on which the incident occurred.
The police requested a four day remand extension. In the end the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court extended the remand by only two days. Honenu regards the two-day extension as an indication that the level of suspicion in the case is low: “We have already seen dozens of cases in which the GSS and the Department of Nationalist Crime in the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police made a big production out of detaining a suspect who was then released after a short time.”
Honenu attorney Aharon Roza, who represented the youth, stated that, “Despite the fact that everything remained secret during the deliberation and the police representative barely answered any of the questions, it seems from the court’s decision that the level of suspicion is low. I sincerely hope that by the next deliberation it becomes clear to the investigating units that there is no connection between the minor and the arson incident, and that they leave him alone.”
Roza also mentioned the ban on meeting with an attorney which was placed on the detainee, a ban normally reserved for terrorists, and said that, “Time after time I express objection to the fact that GSS investigations begin with a ban on meeting with an attorney. It seems that what had been extremely unusual has become the norm.”