The judges of the Beersheva District Court have harshly criticized the Shin Bet’s methods of interrogation against security detainees, arguing that the defendant was arrested incorrectly by the Shin Bet – and there is a real concern that he spent two years in detention while having done nothing wrong.

Khalil Nimri, 23, a resident of eastern Jerusalem who was accused of planning an attack at the B-Center Hotel in Eilat, was acquitted about a month ago without giving the full verdict. The judges – Ariel Vago, Alon Infeld and Ariel Hezek – explained that they did not have time to write their reasons for the acquittal. Now the arguments were revealed in Ynet, along with the harsh criticism of the Shin Bet and the police.

Nimri was arrested in 2015 after a hotel clerk identified him as a person who had come on a hotel tour and asked about the rooms. His behavior aroused suspicion and summoned the police. Nimri was arrested and taken for interrogation by the Shin Bet, during which he admitted that he planned to carry out an attack at the hotel.

“|A short time later, however, the same clerk noticed the real person who had arrived on the hotel tour, Ashraf Salayama, also a resident of eastern Jerusalem. The clerk called the police, admitted his mistake, and Ashraf was taken for questioning. Instead of admitting the mistake and releasing Nimri, the Shin Bet devised another theory to overcome their injured ego, according to which the two planned to carry out the attack together.”

“It is reasonable to assume that, given appropriate intelligence information, the Shin Bet knows how to carry out a preventive investigation in the most efficient manner, but in this case, at least according to the evidence before us, there is tangible concern that the defendant was arrested and spent two years in detention, without any wrongdoing.”

The judges added that “the defendant was arrested under the mistaken concept of the Shin Bet, according to which he was the one who entered the hotel.” They added that “the Shin Bet was very self-confident, and his interrogators repeatedly accused the defendant that he was lying about visiting the hotel when he told the truth”.

The ruling indicates that the usual procedures for the purpose of identifying a suspect have not been taken: no lineup was conducted that would have revealed the error and the alibi that Nimri gave was not examined. In addition, the researchers did not bother to properly review the security camera videos at the hotel where Nimri did not appear. “These actions would have been carried out had the defendant been interrogated by any regular police investigator at any station in Israel, since the Israel Police investigators know that the suspect’s claims must be examined thoroughly and immediately, even if they do not believe him. And led the defendant to admit that he visited the hotel.”

The judges also refer to Nimri’s partner to the alleged plot, Ashraf Salayme. His trial is currently under way, and he too has admitted and repeated it several times.

“It is possible, and we do not know, that the state’s thesis is supported by rich intelligence, which indicates the guilt of the defendant and Ashraf, which is not before us, but according to the partial evidence presented to us, this is a terrible mistake.

The judges called on the Shin Bet security service to carry out an internal check and wrote: “The Shin Bet must examine itself thoroughly, lest the methods of interrogation, which often lead to the exposure of dangerous terrorist acts, may also lead innocent people to confess to acts they have not done.”

“Police investigators have indeed allowed the defendants to make their innocence claims, but they have not done enough,” said the police investigator, who is not a clerk whose job it is to carry out interrogations according to the instructions of his superiors. The truth is said among the lies. ”

The Southern District Attorney’s Office appealed Nimri’s acquittal to the Supreme Court.

Attorney Esther Bar-Zion, who represents Nimri, said in response that “the security forces are making a tremendous effort to ensure the safety and security of the public. There are cases where even the best fall into the trap of thinking and narrow vision and ignore, not maliciously but negligently, serious problems investigation material. Judgment at its best, impartially, knows flaws and failures, and even though a citizen admits, examines the visual fabric and knows how to acquit.”

The Shin Bet said in response: “The decision of the Beersheva District Court in the matter of Khalil Nimri, on its grounds, is currently being studied by all the relevant parties, including an examination of the possibility of appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)