Two minors released from remand to house arrest

Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 15:49 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, either as a tactical move in the investigation or due to an error. 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.
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. The minors’ remand was extended until Tuesday, May 10.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled that the continuation of the remand must be considered carefully in light of the ages of the minor detainees. On the afternoon of Tuesday, May 10, because no developments in the investigation were presented during the deliberation, the Jerusalem Magistrate Court rejected the police request to extend the detainees’ remand. They were released to three days of house arrest. An additional minor detained in the case was released from remand on Monday, May 9.
Honenu Attorney Sinaiya Moses-Harizi, who represented the minors, stated that, “The State of Israeli is waging an all-out war against anything that has a nationalist side to it. Detaining a 12-year-old boy, who is barely of age to be criminally responsible, from his bed in the middle of the night, and extending his remand shows that the system has lost all judgment and proportions and forgotten what human rights are. The detention of a 12-year-old should not happen other than under extraordinary circumstances, which were not present in this case.”
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.