Mohammed Sarhan, the owner of a Carmiel area factory, will receive NIS 18,000 in compensation as per a court ruling in his case against El Al Airline. The case dates back to May 2015, when Sarhan and a colleague attorney Fiaz Salameh, also a northern resident and four Jewish friends were heading together to vacation in Cyprus. When they arrived at the airport Larnaca Airport, security guards separated between Sarhan and Salameh and their friends for the purpose of a security check, putting them in a side room.
According to the Ynet report, the two were forced to wait in the room for 40 minutes and were prohibited from using the restroom during that period. After attorney Salameh became indignant, a security escort was provided to permit them to use the restroom.
One of the plaintiffs requested NIS 15,000 in compensation and an additional NIS 3,000 to cover legal fees.
In her ruling, Justice Camilla Jadaon noted that keeping them in a closed room for a prolonged period to conduct a security check without giving a satisfactory explanation for the delay is an affront to their freedom of movement let alone when the delay is not enshrined in legislation which “There are no detentions or arrest except enshrined by law by the virtue of expressed authorization”.
The court added the period of detention might even be false arrest as one’s freedom was taken away without authorization for a period of time using physical means or authority.
Jadaon added the searches of their bodies and belongings of passengers is permitted under section 9 of the law, however, it must be carried out in a reasonable time unless there are factors preventing it. The court ruled there was no cause for the delay in his case and the plaintiff has proven there was undo delay.
El Al has filed an appeal with a district court but on November 17, 2016 the airline pulled the appeal.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
If this incident took place in Cyprus, as the report indicates, where were the Cypriot authorities in all this? Does El Al have carte blanche to do whatever it wants in a foreign country? Still a rate of NIS 27,000 an hour [~$7,000] for being held for a security check does seem a little over the top.