Honenu Attorney Nati Rom; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 16:50 Five Jews were detained on suspicion of attacking bus drivers and damaging trucks after protesting at the Nitzana Crossing against the passage of humanitarian aid trucks to Gaza on Sunday. This morning, the Be’er Sheva Magistrates Court unconditionally released them.
On Sunday, during interrogation, the detainees presented a video clip proving that they had not been at the incident. Nonetheless, the police refused to release them and also issued an announcement shortly after the incident that they had been detained. The announcement cited their place of residence and that they would be brought to a hearing on the extension of their remand. They had not yet been interrogated.
After one day in remand, the police asked the court to extend their remand by ten days. The court refused the request and extended the remand by only one day. At the hearing that took place today (Wednesday) in court, the judge leveled criticism at the police after their representatives admitted that they had not bothered to watch the video clip that the detainees presented to them and the judge unconditionally released the detainees. Honenu Attorneys Nati Rom and Daniel Shimshilashvili represented the detainees.
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom stated: “The enthusiasm of the police to weaken the justified campaign against transferring goods to the enemy in Gaza leads to extremely improper conduct, to put it mildly. We welcome today’s decision and the sharp criticism by the court of the police.”
Honenu Attorney Daniel Shimshilashvili added: “I welcome the release of my client. I hope that the police will focus their energy more on operations that benefit Israeli citizens and less on looking for ways to detain legitimate protesters when the distance between the charges attributed to them and reality is like the distance between east and west, as evidenced by the decision to release the detainees despite the bombastic declaration of a request to detain them for ten days.”