On Monday, 29 Tishrei the Jerusalem Magistrate Court ordered the release of three out of the five teen-aged girls detained the previous day on suspicion of assaulting an Arab and causing damage to a store in center-city Jerusalem. Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Gioia Skappa-Shapiro ruled that concerning two of the girls there is neither reasonable suspicion nor evidence linking them to the incident and therefore ordered their unconditional release.

The third detainee, a 13 year-old girl, was released to house arrest after Judge Skappa-Shapiro accepted the plea made by Honenu attorneys Adi Kedar and David HaLevi that she had been illegally kept in remand for over 12 hours. According to the law a detainee under the age of 14 must be brought to a deliberation within 12 hours of detention.

Judge Skappa-Shapiro ruled that there is a reasonable suspicion that the other two detainees, girls 14 and 16 years of age, were involved with the incident. Their remand has been extended by one day. Kedar announced that he will appeal the decision.

Honenu attorney Adi Kedar: “We received the court’s decision with mixed emotions. On one hand the court accepted our main pleas, ruled that most of the girls were not involved with the incident and also ruled that one of them had been held in remand illegally. On the other hand, in our opinion there was no cause to extend the remand of the two girls who are suspected of involvement with the incident.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)