Nabbed heroin (Archive Photo)
Photo: Michael Kramer
Chained to the toilet for three days
Court releases Ashkelon man police suspect of swallowing heroin; after three days in jail, the man had still not "produced" the evidence
ASHKELON - A judge in the Ashkelon magistrate's court yesterday ordered the release of a man who was detained for three days so police could monitor his bathroom activities.
The authorities suspect that man had swallowed heroin and were waiting for him to "produce" the evidence. However, the judge released the man, saying, "I cannot think of a more serious violation of human dignity and freedom."
The police had arrested the man and his girlfriend on the suspicion of drug smuggling in their bodies. After the two were held for 24 hours, the police got the magistrate's court to extend the remand of the male suspect – his girlfriend had been subjected to an enema and nothing was found.
Humiliating treatment
The request for a further extension outraged the defendant's lawyer, Shlomo Benjo, who told the court that his client had been held, handcuffed for days, on a mattress.
"He's suffered physical injury," Benjo said, adding that "the police arrested his common-law wife as a pressure tactic. They have not even suggested that she agreed to an invasive body search. They even gave her an enema, which is illegal, and according to her, she suffered humiliating treatment."
The court said that there was probable cause that the suspect was smuggling drugs in his body. Nevertheless, the police actions were a "horrible and terrible assault on human dignity."
The judge released the man to house arrest at his sister's home.
