Minor detained in police raid on yeshiva released

Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 20:44 On the morning of Wednesday, February 18 a 14 year-old resident of the Shomron was detained by detectives from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police in a police raid on the yeshiva which he attends in the Binyamin region. He was taken to the Department of Nationalist Crime in the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police where he was interrogated on suspicion of threatening Arabs.
The detainee’s father arrived at the police facility, however the interrogators prevented him from being present at his son’s interrogation, even though by law parents are allowed to be present at the interrogation of a minor child.
Although the youth was detained in the morning for a relatively minor violation, the police interrogators informed Honenu attorney Adi Kedar that they intended to keep the youth in remand overnight and bring him to court for a deliberation the following morning.
Kedar filed an urgent appeal with the Jerusalem Magistrate Court demanding that the youth be brought to a deliberation in the evening and then released from remand. The appeal was accepted and the youth was brought to a deliberation at the Jerusalem Magistrate Court the same evening.
At the deliberation the police requested a three-day remand extension for the youth, however Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Gioia Skappa-Shapiro ordered the immediate release of the 14 year-old Shomron resident to house arrest until Monday, February 23. Honenu attorney Erez Bar-Tzvi represented the youth at the deliberation.
Honenu responded to the incident: “The discriminatory and humiliating treatment of the Jewish youth by the Yehuda and Shomron District Police, beginning with the raid on the yeshiva in complete contrast to what is customary with other populations, and ending with the decision to leave the youth in remand overnight without cause, is disproportionately severe. There is no reason for a 14 year-old youth who was detained for a relatively minor violation to be held in remand. We are astounded time after time by the conduct of the Yehuda and Shomron Police. We do not understand their motivation.”