Minors aged 12, 15 released from isolated police station, parents not notified

Monday, May 9, 2016, 11:27 Two minors aged 12 and 15 from the Etzion Bloc were detained late at night on Saturday, May 7 (after Shabbat) by detectives from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police on suspicion of puncturing the tires of Arab cars. The 12-year-old was woken up and taken from his bed. After being interrogated they were released at dawn on Sunday, May 8 at the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police Station located in the E1 complex adjacent to Ma’aleh Adumim. The station is isolated and inaccessible by public transportation. The police neither provided the minors with transportation home, nor informed their parents of their whereabouts.
The two minors were forced to hitch-hike at dawn, and once they reached Jerusalem they were detained again by detectives from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police on the same charge. The police also claimed that one of the minors possessed a weapon, which turned out to be a tear gas gun that his family kept at their house.
After several hours the minors were brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court. The police demanded that their remand be extended by six days. Both minors denied all charges. Their remand was extended until Tuesday, May 10.
During the court deliberation Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi, who is representing both minors, raised the issue of the conduct of the police who detained, released, and then detained the minors again, in the process violating their rights, and left them in an isolated area at dawn. The judge ruled that the conduct of the police should not be considered in regards to the demand for the remand extension. Honenu filed an appeal with the Jerusalem District Court on the decision.
Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi: “The conduct of the Israeli Police is disparaging, and that is an understatement. Throwing minors out of a police station in the middle of the night in a hostile area without allowing them to make contact with their parents bears witness better than a thousand witnesses, to the disrespect of and insensitivity towards minors as young as 12 and 15, and their rights.”
In a related case, in August 2015, an Adei Ad resident detained at dawn and falsely accused of stealing a weapon for which he had a license as a member of his community’s Rapid Response Squad, was left at the entrance to the E1 complex when his interrogators, despite their admittance of their error, refused to transport him to his home.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.