In the early afternoon on Tuesday, 17 Elul, a 16 year old youth from the Binyamin region of Shomron was served with an administrative house arrest order (in effect only at night) and an administrative order forbidding him from making contact with 18 people. The orders are signed by the IDF Central District Commander Major-General Roni Numa and Homefront Commander Major General Yoel Strik.

The youth was detained approximately two weeks previously on suspicion of involvement with the Kfar Duma arson incident and harshly interrogated by the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet). He was released after the court ruled that there is no evidence implicating him in the incident and he was not indicted.

The orders raise the number of recipients of administrative orders in the Kfar Duma arson case to 19, three of whom have been issued administrative detention orders.

Honenu stated that, “Issuing an administrative order in this instance is particularly serious in light of the fact that no evidence has been presented to the court implicating the minor in the incident about which he was interrogated and he has also not been indicted. Due to a gag order we cannot go into details about the case, however we can say that apparently the security forces have decided to automatically issue administrative orders to everyone suspected of involvement with “price tag” incidents, even when it is obvious to everyone that there is no connection between the suspect and the incident. We are concerned that the genuine reason for issuing the order is to harass certain communities in the Binyamin region.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)