Russian Compound, Jerusalem - Danger to Regional Security, Remand Extension

Translation: Marganit W.

Russian Compound  

Judge: Avry Einhorn

Police Investigator: Hader Mustafa

Defense: Judd Kadmani, Tarek Bargout

There are 4 cases in the docket.

All of them concluded with 8 days of remand extension, agreed upon by the sides.

In the middle of the hearing a detainee was brought in who was not included in today’s docket. He was accompanied by the investigator and was represented by the two attorneys.

The hearing of this case caused confusion and errors in the names that appear in the protocols.

The discussion between the investigator and the defense was about an agreement between the sides. They were conducted in Arabic without translation. Consequently, we could not follow the discussion. As for the judge, we’re not sure if he speaks Arabic.

Detainees were brought in and out and we were unable to figure out what the charges were. We only know that they were remanded in custody for 8 more days for further interrogations.

Muhammad Jihad Ali Ahmad – ID 860035559

The defense conveyed the detainee’s complaint to the judge; the investigator confirmed that the account is included in the confidential file. For three days the detainee was confined to a chair, in handcuffs. His food was brought to him there and he was allowed to sleep only one or two hours a day.

His honor wondered how such a thing could happen. He wrote in the protocol that an 8- day remand was agreed upon by the sides.

After the hearing we asked the attorney what was the charge in this case.

The answer: he had information about an event and he did not report it. “He posed risk to security in the region” the attorney concluded.

The detainee was led out of the court. Then, the investigator, a law-abiding citizen, asked the judge if he wanted to conduct the hearing behind closed doors. The detainee, he explained, is 17,5 years old, so according to the law he is a minor.

We were totally surprised by this request and remarked, that we had in the past attended many hearings of youngsters, 14 and 15 years old and it never occurred to anyone….

The judge said that he had no problem with our presence in the court. The detainee is almost 18 years old, so we could stay. The defense attorneys had not problem with our presence either.

Nobody had any problem of any kind during the entire hearing. We did not ask the detainees if THEY had any problems, so maybe somebody did have a problem.