Ofer - Health Problems, Incriminators

Translation: Marganit W.

What was not said in court – A wanted man whose 15-year old sister had been arrested, turned himself in.

8-day Remand extension hearing in the case of

Muhammad Matuk.

Judge: Lieut. Col. Etty Adar

Defense: Atty. Ibrahim Al-Araj

As usual, the police investigator presented a secret file detailing the background and the requests of the prosecution.

The suspect was arrested on 23.9.18 on charges of rock throwing. The incident occurred on 21.7.17  - a year before the arrest!

While searching his house, the police found in his bedroom closet the shirt he was wearing while throwing rocks at security forces, as captured on camera.

In addition the suspect is charged that during the previous year he was working illegally in Israel. No dates were supplied. When the suspect said that for two months he had been in hospital following an accident, the investigator reiterated that they had no dates for his alleged work in Israel.

The investigator requested an 8-day remand because the investigation involves lab work, and this is holiday season, so what can you do. The investigator admitted that the suspect had been interrogated only once and that he denied the allegations.

The judge apologized for the delay caused by the holiday, and yet accepted the prosecution’s move.

The protocol contains the following paragraph:

“The protocol will go to the doctor in the prison where the suspect is held, so they can examine him and provide the necessary treatment for the alleged injury”.  Interesting.

I sat in court wondering: the investigator admitted that the suspect had been identified and incriminated. What pressure was applied on the incriminators?

The investigator also stated that several months earlier the suspect was declared “arrestworthy” (a neologism coined by the system?)

Atty. Ibrahim Al Araj later told me that Muhammad turned himself in after his sister had been detained. I then remembered that on 23.9.18 Tamar Goldschmidt posted on Facebook that Tasnim Bassem Matuk, 15 years old, was arrested in order to force her brother to turn himself in, which is what he did promptly.

I also wondered: perhaps a year ago they made Muhammad other offers they thought he could not refuse, as they do to many Palestinians, and he turned them down. I have no answers.