Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski; Photo credit: Honenu
Sunday, January 5, 2020, 9:58 E., a 16-year-old minor, has been served with an administrative order placing him under house arrest at night at his parents’ home in Jerusalem. For over three months policemen have been verifying that E. is complying with the order in a manner which Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, who is representing E., says is not customary with criminals who are under house arrest under similar conditions.
E. described the police checks: “They have been coming every night, sometimes several times a night. Always at late hours. They knock loudly and don’t wait. They have woken up the entire house by the time I go out to them. It’s like this every night.” Sometimes the policemen come several times a night. Every time the minor must leave the house, cross the yard, open the gate and identify himself for the policemen, who have arrived at 00:50, 2:08, 4:30, 5:00, and at other highly inconvenient hours.
E. said that he asked the policemen to come at other times, and they replied that they would return the same night, at the time he requested: “They told me that they have orders to come every night. My family is going crazy. They almost threw me out of the house. They told me that they can’t take it any more. We are a large family. Sometimes my married siblings are here. [The police] have caused arguments between me and my family, between me and my brothers who live at home.”
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski leveled criticism at the police: “This is scandalous conduct by the Israeli Police. I am not aware of any cases, including those of serious criminal offenders, in which the Israeli Police have checked compliance with house arrest in the middle of the night, two or three times a night. This is not an attempt to verify whether or not E. is keeping the conditions of the house arrest that were set for him, but rather harassment for the sake of harassment, persecution and abuse of a 16-year-old, without any justification. Apparently orders have been received from various authorities, including the GSS, to harass a youth associated with the ‘hilltop youth’.”