This case is under a partial gag order, however the following information is cleared for publication.

A disturbance broke out on the morning of Tuesday, 4 Marcheshvan in the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court after right-wing activists succeeded in entering the courtroom in which a deliberation was being held behind closed doors and called out words of encouragement to detainees who have not yet met with an attorney. The courthouse guards removed the activists from the courtroom. One of them was detained for several minutes and then released.

The activists protested the conduct of the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) towards Jewish minors and claimed that ISA interrogators abused “hilltop youth”.

Honenu responded: “We understand the protest by the youth. The violation of the most basic rights of detainees is most serious. One cannot know the extent of the pressures, physical and psychological, to which the minors are subjected while under interrogation, during which time they are sometimes held in harsh conditions in the ISA facility. We recommend that the ISA and the police work to eradicate the Arab terror in Jerusalem and call on the Jewish Department of the ISA to cease harassing their fellow Jews.”

Photo: Protestors holding signs demanding the right of detainees to see an attorney,

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: Honenu)