Thursday, October 17. 2013 Three residents of Yitzhar were detained in the presence of their children at 2 A.M. on Thursday, October 17. The three are suspected of disturbing the police as security forces detained Boaz Albert on September 24. One of those detained is the photographer who recorded the video of Boaz Albert being shocked by police with a Taser on August 15.
The detainees were offered a conditional release, which they angrily refused. They requested to stand before a judge in order to present their claims on the manner in which they were detained.
Honenu attorney Adi Kedar stated that “The Israeli Police continue to conduct themselves in a scandalous manner. Instead of following the law and summoning people to interrogation by normal means they decide over and over again to carry out pre-dawn raids on people and families, detaining them by force and by surprise for interrogation, and later demanding they sign documents stipulating restrictive conditions.”
“They could have been detained respectably at any hour of the day. Not one of them had fled to anywhere,” said a member of one of the detainee’s family. “There was terrible crying. The children were frightened by the sight of police dragging their parents out of bed. Someone in the police force must be punished for the manner in which they humiliate people in the presence of their small children. What’s more, after the ‘circus’ was over, just a few hours later, the police wanted to release them.”
On September 24 Boaz Albert was detained on suspicion of violating an administrative order. During his detention he chained himself to a device secured deep in the ground. With the use of a mechanized saw and other massive tools the police succeeded in removing Albert from the chains after four and a half hours of intensive work. A large group of supporters (including the three detained this morning) gathered in a successful attempt to delay the policemen from reaching Albert.
13:29 Update: The three detainees were unconditionally released at the Yehuda and Shomron district police station several hours after their detention.