Police arrest Emmanuel father who did not turn himself in
Ami Berber failed to report to detention center in accordance with High Court ruling in racial segregation case. Defense attorney: Arrest illegal because he is a single father of ailing toddler
Judea and Samaria District Police officers on Sunday arrested Emmanuel resident Ami Berber, who failed to report to a detention center in accordance with the High Court of Justice's ruling banning racial segregation at an all girls' school in the West Bank settlement.
Berber was arrested at his home and was taken to a police station in Ariel. His attorney, Moshe Green, said he plans to appeal the High Court over what he claimed was the illegal arrest of his client, who is a single father of an ailing one year old toddler.
Twenty-two mothers and thirty-five fathers from Emmanuel were supposed to begin two-week jail terms on Thursday for holding the court in contempt, after they refused to return their daughters to the school.
Most of the fathers reported to the police station on Thursday and began serving their time, but the mothers did not show up.
Earlier Sunday, the High Court judges decided to delay the imprisonment of the 22 mothers and hold a session on the matter on Tuesday.
In its decision, the court said the parents were well aware of the verdict ruling them to prison, adding that "despite them being provided with many opportunities to fulfill it without coercion, they acted in various ways to thwart (the ruling).”
Meanwhile, sources from the headquarters for the struggle for Emmanuel parents said on Sunday, "If the High Court decides to jail the mothers, the war will become a war of modesty and not just education, and then the demonstrations will be of a completely different caliber, very violent."
Yitzhak Sheinin, one of the haredi protest's organizers, expressed hopes that "the judges will have the sense to use the ladder to come down from the tree."
He added, "If this happens, what we witnessed last week will serve as an example alone. No woman will ever come to prison. This is a case of self-sacrifice. What, did she murder anybody?!"
