Officers suspected of abuse get house arrest
Yarkon District Police officers suspects of abusing Palestinian detainee placed under house arrest, deny all allegations against them. Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court judge finds reasonable suspicion against suspects, but criticizes rash conduct of police investigations unit
Four out of 10 police officers, arrested on suspicion of abusing A'alan Abu Najma, a Palestinian detainee suspected of car theft, were placed under house arrest Sunday following a hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court.
Judge Alon Dafadi ruled that there was reasonable suspicion of serious abuse. Earlier, the other six police officers arrested were also placed under house arrest.
On Sunday Ynet learned that police investigations unit detectives raided the Yarkon District Police station and detained 10 police officers suspected of abusing a Palestinian detainee. The men arrested were Israel Police special patrol unit officers and detectives.
Many Yarkon District Police commanders attended the hearing in support of the police officers, whose names and details are under gag order.
During the hearing, police investigations unit representatives presented the Palestinian's complaints and said this was very serious assault. The suspects' legal counsels, however, said the police officers denied all allegations against them.
The attorneys added that the suspects must not be held in custody without a police lineup. The police investigations unit representatives said there were no witnesses to the incident besides the complaint filed by the Palestinian and some additional material they had obtained.
Judge Dafadi wrote in his ruling that there is reasonable suspicion against the suspects, but he also criticized the police investigation unit detectives, who instead of waiting an additional day to further investigate the incident, were quick to bring the police officers to court for a remand hearing.
The judge added that since the police investigations unit confiscated the suspects' mobile phones, which the complainant says were used to document the incident, releasing the suspects on house arrest would not disrupt the investigation.
Avi Himi, one of the suspects' attorneys, told the court: "This is a 27-year-old guy who came to Tel Aviv, illegally crossed the border, stole a motorcycle, went to Hebron and demanded ransom for that motorcycle. Police forces organized a serious force to enter Hebron. Later, during the arrest, pepper spray was used, and some of the suspects were also hurt by it.
"The suspect, the thief, realized he was in a tough situation. There are 12 people involved. We don't know who did what. My client, one of the suspects, said he went to buy cigarettes and wasn't even there. It's strange how they decided to arrest these four out of all people, without even conducting a police lineup."
The rest of the suspects' attorney also claimed that that the police investigations unit did not have a positive ID on the assailants and had no indication of what occurred besides the Palestinian's complaint.
