Minors released to house arrest

Thursday, July 21, 2016, 14:45 The two minors accused of setting cars on fire in Kfar Yafia as a reaction to the terror attack in the Sarona Complex in Tel Aviv in which four Jews were murdered and others injured, will be released from remand on Thursday, July 21 by the ruling of Natzrat District Court President, Judge Dr. Avraham Avraham.
In light of an agreement between the two sides the Judge Dr. Avraham ruled that the two minors would be released to house arrest at their own homes with electronic handcuffs. They were both held for a week in an ISA facility and for the first three days were not allowed to meet with an attorney.
Attorney Lior Bar-Zohar, who is representing the minors on behalf of Honenu, stated that “We are satisfied that the minors will be released to their homes today. This proves that the attempts by the Attorney General’s office and the ISA to attribute to them serious security violations which were never carried out have failed.”
According to the indictment filed on Tuesday, July 19, in the case of the two minors, they decided to set cars on fire in Kfar Yafia after hearing about the terror attack in the Sarona Complex in Tel Aviv. The following day, late at night, they left Migdal HaEmek wearing hooded sweatshirts and gloves, carrying spray-paint and a bottle of gasoline in a backpack. They walked into the town until they arrived at a parking lot and climbed over the fence surrounding it.
The indictment continues: One of the accused spray-painted graffiti reading, “revenge for the Tel Aviv murders”, “revenge” and “price tag”, on three trucks and then set a parked car on fire. As a result of the blaze a second car caught fire and was partially damaged. Then they returned to Migdal HaEmek.
The two minors are also accused of disrupting the investigation because they threw the backpack, the spray-paint, and the empty gasoline bottle into the garbage.
A third minor, who was released on July 15, is accused of failure to prevent a crime. According to the indictment, one of the other two minors asked him to stay awake, keep watch on the path leading to Kfar Yafia and if they did not come back within two hours, to announce their absence.
The minors were held under harsh conditions in an ISA facility and were not allowed to meet with an attorney for several days. The interrogators pulled their heads violently, cursed, humiliated, and threatened them. They were also deprived of sleep until they admitted to the act attributed to them.