Administrative detainee Meir Ettinger scheduled for release

Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 16:07 In a deliberation which took place on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 17, before District Court Judge Avraham Tal in the Central District Court in Lod, a representative of the Attorney General’s office announced in a formal statement that Defense Minister Moshe (Boogie) Ya’alon does not intend to extend the administrative detention ordered served to Ettinger. Ettinger is expected to be released on June 1, 2016. However the representative announced that the State of Israel intends to place other administrative restrictions on Ettinger, who has been in remand since early August 2015.
Honenu Attorney Yuval Zemer, who represented Ettinger at the deliberation, stated that he intends to object to any restriction placed on his client and will appeal to the court on the matter.
After the deliberation Zemer stated: “I am very pleased that Mr. Ettinger’s very extended remand is coming to a close. It is sad to discover that in the State of Israel in 2016 a man can be detained for 10 months only because his political ideas are not pleasing to certain individuals. I welcome the decision not to extend the remand for a second time, which in my opinion is the correct decision, about which can be said that it is too little and too late.”
In early August 2015 Ettinger was served with a six-month administrative detention order signed by Defense Minister Ya’alon. On February 23, 2016, the Central District Court in Lod approved the four-month remand extension signed three weeks previously by Defense Minister Ya’alon. Ettinger has been held in solitary since October 7, 2015, and has been forbidden to speak by telephone to anyone other than some of his close family members.
Approximately six weeks ago the refusal of the ISA and the Prison Service to grant Ettinger furlough to attend his first-born son’s brit milah ceremony on April 4 raised a public outcry. At the close of a legal battle which reached the Supreme Court of Israel on the day of the ceremony the court rejected Ettinger’s request to attend the ceremony. Hundreds of family members and supporters attended the ceremony, which was held in Jerusalem, while the baby’s father sat in his cell in the Eshel Prison.