Friday, May 3, 2024, 12:18 Yesterday morning (Thursday), a married 35-year-old Beit El resident who serves in the army reserves arrived at the GSS offices in Petah Tikva for a meeting to which he had been summoned. For many hours he was asked to cooperate with the Jewish Department of the GSS and give information and background information about incidents involving Jewish citizens of Yehuda and Shomron. The resident refused. Late in the evening, he was informed that he was being detained on suspicion of involvement with a murder. Honenu has engaged the services of Attorneys Ariel Atari and Asaf Gonen to represent the detainee.
Honenu originally reported that the detainee would be brought to a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court this (Friday) morning where his attorneys will demand his release. However, the GSS refused to bring the detainee to the court hearing and asked to hold the hearing with him participating via a video link, without his attorneys being able to meet with him before the hearing. His attorneys demanded to meet with him, and the court accepted their position. The hearing was stopped and postponed until the afternoon. Currently, Attorney Ariel Atari is on his way to the GSS offices in Petah Tikva to meet with the detainee.
Attorneys Atari and Gonen commented on the case: “There are no legal grounds for this detention. The detainee is innocent. Yesterday morning he was summoned to the GSS offices in Petah Tikva. He was told that he was not suspected of any crime. They asked him for background information about what was happening in the area. When he refused to cooperate, as a penalty they brought in police interrogators, informed him that he was detained, and then told him that he was suspected of a crime. How surprising. In an attempt to persuade him to cooperate, he was detained. We will do everything to bring him home for Shabbat.”
Attorney Ariel Atari added: “We left the courtroom at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, and the Israel Police requested a remand extension in the absence of the detainee which we adamantly opposed. The court accepted our position and postponed the hearing until the afternoon. I am on my way to Petah Tikva to meet with the detainee.”
Attorney Gonen (L) and Attorney Atari (R); Video credit: Honenu