Attorney Ariel Atari
Thursday, May 9, 2024, 17:05 This afternoon (Thursday), the Israel Police informed the attorneys representing the Beit El resident detained last Thursday on suspicion of killing a Hamas activist that they would not appeal the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to release him to his home. Honenu engaged the services of Attorney Ariel Atari and Attorney Asaf Gonen to represent the detainee.
Earlier today, the court ordered the release of the Beit El resident. The Israel Police had requested a seven-day remand extension, and they asked the court to delay his release to give them time to appeal the decision. The police subsequently changed their mind regarding the appeal, paving the way to the resident’s release.
Attorney Atari reacted to the decision saying: “The [Jerusalem] Magistrates Court ordered the release of the detainee and thereby expressed what we had claimed from the beginning: The Beit El resident suspected of killing a Hamas terrorist is innocent. We expect the GSS to do some soul-searching and direct their energy to interrogating Hamas terrorists, not innocent citizens.”
Attorney Gonen added, “As we claimed from the first moment, there is absolutely no evidential basis for the charges, and certainly not for detention. We thank the court for accepting our claims and exercising judicial review.”
Earlier this week, at a hearing, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court rejected a request from the GSS for a 15-day-remand extension of the accused and extended it by only three days. During the hearing, it turned out that neither the GSS nor the Israel Police had obtained the death certificate of the allegedly deceased Hamas activist, and there were no test results indicating the circumstances of his death. Although the lack of this information had been revealed at the previous hearing, no new information was presented at that hearing either. The detained Beit El resident underwent intensive interrogations by the GSS during which he was deprived of sleep, shackled to a chair for six hours, interrogated on Shabbat, and subjected to additional methods of coercion. The GSS also issued an order prohibiting the resident to meet with his attorneys for several days.