Youth still in remand due to discriminatory policy

Thursday, June 25, 2015, 21:33 A youth from Beit El who has already unnecessarily remained in remand for over two weeks due to the fact that the company which supplies electronic handcuffs to the Israeli Prison Services does not operate in Yehuda and Shomron, has been ordered by the court to remain in remand because the Youth Probation Service claims that it is not possible for the youth to wear the electronic handcuff at his yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The youth was released to house arrest on Thursday, June 11, on condition of wearing an electronic handcuff, but could not be released to his parents’ home because the company which supplies electronic handcuffs to the Israeli Prison Services does not operate in Yehuda and Shomron. Despite the fact that courts have ruled numerous times that residents of Yehuda and Shomron be released to house arrest and cancelled the condition of an electronic handcuff after it turned out that it was not possible to provide the service in those areas, Jerusalem Magistrate Judge Mordechai Kaduri ruled that the youth would remain in remand until the end of proceedings.
Now, the second part of the legal saga has begun. Honenu attorney Adi Kedar suggested to the court that the youth wear an electronic handcuff at his yeshiva in Jerusalem. At a deliberation which took place on Thursday, June 25 at the Jerusalem Magistrate Court the Youth Probation Service claimed that it was not possible for the youth to wear the electronic handcuff at the yeshiva which the youth attends.
According to a new law which came into effect last week, the Youth Probation Service examines the alternative site (to house arrest at the detainee’s own home) prior to the release of a detainee who will wear an electronic handcuff. In the expert opinion given by the Youth Probation Service, they claim that it is not possible to release the youth to his yeshiva because of its large number of students. The absurdity of the situation, which the head of the yeshiva described in a letter he wrote to the court, is that there have been and are currently students at the yeshiva who were released by order of the court to stay at the yeshiva with an electronic handcuff as an alternative to house arrest at their own homes.
“The powerlessness of the legal system continues,” stated Honenu attorney Adi Kedar, who is representing the youth. “The conduct of the authorities has entered its second stage. The court has ordered the release of a detainee for the second time, and again the Youth Probation Service and the electronic handcuff company are preventing the release of the detainee, who has remained in remand for over two months. A civilized country cannot allow legal rulings to not be implemented because of the decisions of low-level clerks. I call on the Minister of Internal Security and the Justice Minister to act decisively in order that the ruling be carried out.”