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Court frees rightist detainees
Judge orders immediate release of seven rightist activists arrested at Sderot march, slams police conduct during protest; utilization of detention powers at march indication of 'dark times' in Israel, judge says
Shmulik Hadad
Police conduct slammed: The Kiryat Gat Magistrate's Court Sunday harshly criticized the detention of rightist activists during the Sderot march earlier in the day. The presiding judge, Nechama Netzer, ordered the immediate release of all seven detainees.
"The use of power and detention authority in order to avert this right of expression, beyond constituting a case of silencing others, indicates the arrival of very dark times across the State of Israel," the judge said.
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During the protest march, the police held about 25 demonstrators for questioning and decided to bring seven of them to court, after they refused to sign a pledge to stay away from Sderot and the Gaza region.
However, Justice Netzer was unconvinced by the police's logic, stressing that the freedom to protest is a fundamental right.
"Is it imaginable that the accused, whose only sin was being in Sderot or planning to reach Sderot, will be held, arrested, and possibly detained for another night, just because of their desire to protest?" the judge said. "It appears that the answer to that is clear, and woe on us if we reach days where people are scared to legally expresses their views, even through a protest or taking part in a legal protest."
During the hearing, it turned out that the Shin Bet security service was also involved in the arrest decision, and that some of the suspects were detained based on vague intelligence information.
The attorney for the seven suspects, David Halevy, also had harsh words for authorities.
"We are witnessing disturbing government conduct that is reminiscent of the conduct of states stuck in the dark ages, where police detain whoever wishes to exercise their fundamental rights without checking what's going on," he said. "The police used their powers in an improper and grave manner."
Justice Netzer added that the information she was presented with made it difficult to understand what prompted the police decision to release some detainees while keeping others in detention.
"It appears that the utilization of the authority to hold up and detain suspects was only meant to ensure the accused won't be able to exercise their right to demonstrate and express their legal and legitimate protest," she said. "I regret the fact that at the end of the day, and as result of the way things were done, the police got what they wanted and the accusers were shunned their legal right to protest and express themselves."
The judge added that the arrests were unreasonable and disproportional, thereby ordering the immediate release of all seven suspects. Meanwhile, National Union Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari turned to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and demanded that he set up a commission of inquiry that would look into Sunday's arrests.
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