Remand of teenage girls detained by National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations extended

Sunday, December 4, 2011, 16:59
Updated number of detentions: Seven girls were detained.
The Petah Tikva Magistrate Court extended by two days the remand of the seven girls detained during the early morning hours at their homes by detectives from the National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations.
The police requested a five-day extension on the remand of five of the girls, and for the other two the National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations requested a ten-day extension. The police attribute to them the crime of vandalizing army property and claim that they entered an army tent located in the Shiloh Bloc, knocked over army cots and clashed with soldiers.
Concerning two of the girls, the police claim that they are involved with a “price tag” incident at the Binyamin Brigade base after the destruction of three houses and expulsion of families from the community of Migron. Honenu stresses that the investigators from the National Unit of Serious and International Crime Investigations did not present any evidence to them linking them to the act and the two girls deny any involvement with the incident.
Sources close to the girls say that their names became known to the police already several months ago in connection with the investigation of the incident in the Binyamin region, however they were not detained. “If they are so dangerous, why have they been detained only now?”
The sources further stress that the girls are active in supporting outposts in Yehuda and Shomron and apparently the police have marked them. In the past they have been detained several times amidst much fanfare and later quietly released.
One of the girls remained under house arrest for seven months after an IDF officer falsely accused her of throwing rocks at an Arab vehicle. After seven months it became clear that the officer had fabricated the incident and the Attorney General’s office withdrew the charge sheet.
Honenu responded to the detention and said that, “We hope and estimate that just as happened with a long string of detentions on suspicion of ‘price tag’ incidents that began with loud fanfare, also these detentions will turn out to be baseless and the girls will be released quickly.”