“Circling the Gates” detainees spend night in remand

Tuesday, June 26, 2018, 12:03 On the afternoon of Monday, June 25, seven women and girls were detained in the Old City of Jerusalem as they prayed at the gates to the Temple Mount. Among the detainees were a mother and her baby and a minor who was assaulted by a policewoman. The minor, who defended herself against being hit in the stomach, was detained on suspicion of assaulting a policeman. Additionally, when the group arrived at the police station the minor was brutally assaulted by a border policewoman. Honenu Attorneys are representing the detainees.
Honenu notes that the group was detained at a site at which the courts have ruled in several decisions that freedom of movement and freedom of religious expression of Jews praying are not restricted.
After their interrogation at the police station, the police offered to release the detainees under restrictive conditions, including distancing from the Old City of Jerusalem. Four of the detainees refused the condition of distancing and spent the night in remand. On the morning of Tuesday, June 26, the detainees were brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court where the judge ruled on release conditions, including 30-days distancing from the Old City.
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, who represented the detainees, stated in response to the ruling that, “Girls who only wanted to pray were detained without any justification. The police attributed to them the violation of obstructing passage to holy sites, despite the fact that in the documentation presented by the police it is noticeable that they did not prevent the access from anyone to the Temple Mount.
“What is more serious than that is that the girls were not detained at the site documented [by the police] but rather at a different gate, after one of the policewomen assaulted a minor. In order to conceal the failings of the police, the group was detained at a different site other than that at which they were accused of blocking passage.
“They received a penalty of 30 days distancing from the Old City, which is an unusual decision because in fact there was no disturbance which could be attributed to them,” added Poleski.
The girls spent a second night in remand and were released after the court canceled their restrictive conditions. See here for an update.