14 apr 2014
The administration of Beer Sheva prison released 30-year old Mohammad Abdullah Aweis after serving his prison sentence.
The court had sentenced Aweis for 8 months of actual imprisonment and the Intelligence then appealed the decision to increase the sentence to 13 months; note that he had spent three years in the Israeli prisons in the past.
In a related matter, Hamed Joulani was also released after being detained for a month and a half; note that he was arrested by the Musta’ribin (undercover police) during clashed that broke out to condemn the martyrdom of prisoner Jihad Tawil.
The court had sentenced Aweis for 8 months of actual imprisonment and the Intelligence then appealed the decision to increase the sentence to 13 months; note that he had spent three years in the Israeli prisons in the past.
In a related matter, Hamed Joulani was also released after being detained for a month and a half; note that he was arrested by the Musta’ribin (undercover police) during clashed that broke out to condemn the martyrdom of prisoner Jihad Tawil.
Wife of prisoner Samir Abu Fayed following her birth giving of 'Hurriyah' at a Ramallah hospital
A Palestinian prisoner has Monday had a female child from a smuggled sperm, local media reported. The new child of Samir Abu Fayed, who is sentenced 18 years, was born in the Arab Care Specialized Hospital in Ramallah.
A Palestinian prisoner has Monday had a female child from a smuggled sperm, local media reported. The new child of Samir Abu Fayed, who is sentenced 18 years, was born in the Arab Care Specialized Hospital in Ramallah.
Named ‘Hurriyeh’, the Arabic equivalent to ‘Freedom’, this child is the 15th of the children born to Palestinian prisoners through smuggled sperms.
Governor of Ramallah and Al Bireh, Layla Ghanam, in a check-on visit to the prisoner's wife, considered the child's birth as a challenge to the Israeli occupation and an episode of the prisoners’ long struggle in the Israeli jails.
Prisoners' will is stronger than occupation's tyranny, Ghanam stressed, adding “the Palestinian people will stick to hope despite of the compounded pain of the Israeli oppressive measures, pointing out that a new hope is being generated with Horriya’s birth.
Governor of Ramallah and Al Bireh, Layla Ghanam, in a check-on visit to the prisoner's wife, considered the child's birth as a challenge to the Israeli occupation and an episode of the prisoners’ long struggle in the Israeli jails.
Prisoners' will is stronger than occupation's tyranny, Ghanam stressed, adding “the Palestinian people will stick to hope despite of the compounded pain of the Israeli oppressive measures, pointing out that a new hope is being generated with Horriya’s birth.
Israeli police on Monday detained a Palestinian farmer in the southern West Bank and confiscated his agricultural tractor, a local popular committee spokesman said.
Muhammad Ayyad Awad said that an Israeli police patrol in Beit Ummar stopped 28-year-old farmer Udayy Fahmi al-Alami while he was driving his tractor back to his field in the area.
A police officer drove the tractor to Etzion detention center and al-Alami was arrested, Awad said.
An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Muhammad Ayyad Awad said that an Israeli police patrol in Beit Ummar stopped 28-year-old farmer Udayy Fahmi al-Alami while he was driving his tractor back to his field in the area.
A police officer drove the tractor to Etzion detention center and al-Alami was arrested, Awad said.
An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Israeli forces raided Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem late Sunday, where they shot and arrested a Palestinian youth, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society told Ma'an.
The society quoted the family of 20-year-old Hamza Battah as saying Israeli soldiers shot him in the leg and the abdomen.
Israeli soldiers then detained him and brought him to Shaare Zedek medical center in Jerusalem in critical condition.
No further details were provided.
An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
On Saturday, two Palestinian youths were injured during clashes with Israeli forces.
Aida camp is a frequent site of clashes because it is located beside Rachel's Tomb, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation wall despite being in the middle of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
Israeli forces shot more than 20 youths with rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets during clashes that occurred almost daily in December and January, and clashes continue to break out occasionally in the area.
There are 19 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, within which live about a quarter of the 771,000 registered refugees in the territory.
More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.
The society quoted the family of 20-year-old Hamza Battah as saying Israeli soldiers shot him in the leg and the abdomen.
Israeli soldiers then detained him and brought him to Shaare Zedek medical center in Jerusalem in critical condition.
No further details were provided.
An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
On Saturday, two Palestinian youths were injured during clashes with Israeli forces.
Aida camp is a frequent site of clashes because it is located beside Rachel's Tomb, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation wall despite being in the middle of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
Israeli forces shot more than 20 youths with rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets during clashes that occurred almost daily in December and January, and clashes continue to break out occasionally in the area.
There are 19 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, within which live about a quarter of the 771,000 registered refugees in the territory.
More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian young man after crossing the southern Gaza Strip border fence afternoon Monday. A field observer told Quds Press that three Palestinian young men managed to cross the border fence to the east of Khan Younis into 1948 occupied Palestinian territory.
He said that IOF soldiers arrested one of them while the two others managed to escape into 1948 occupied lands, adding that the soldiers were combing the area in search of the two others.
Israeli sources said that a Palestinian youth from Gaza was detained in Eshkol area in the western Negev and was taken for interrogation.
The Israel occupation authority detains more than five thousand Palestinians in its prisons including 415 from Gaza Strip.
He said that IOF soldiers arrested one of them while the two others managed to escape into 1948 occupied lands, adding that the soldiers were combing the area in search of the two others.
Israeli sources said that a Palestinian youth from Gaza was detained in Eshkol area in the western Negev and was taken for interrogation.
The Israel occupation authority detains more than five thousand Palestinians in its prisons including 415 from Gaza Strip.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have launched Monday morning a raid campaign in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, which led to the arrest of a number of Palestinians. In Jenin, IOF stormed Romana town and arrested the 26-year-old Zuhair Al-Ahmad Rashid after violently raiding and searching his parents' home.
Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces also broke into two Palestinian homes. No arrests were reported.
IOF soldiers have arrested two young men at a military checkpoint between Nablus and Jenin before transferring them to an unknown destination.
In Nablus, occupation forces arrested at dawn today the young man Amjad Bahloul after raiding and searching his home.
In Jerusalem, IOF soldiers arrested last night a number of youths in Issawiya neighborhood and transferred them to investigation centers on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at a disco in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill.
Meanwhile, IOF arrested on Monday a Palestinian farmer in Beit Ummar town northern al-Khalil and confiscated an agricultural tractor.
Palestinian sources said that Israeli forces arrested Uday Hassan Alami after the confiscation of his agricultural tractor at the entrance of Beit Ummar town, and imposed a fine to retrieve it.
Occupation forces erected military checkpoints in Assida town, searching Palestinian passers-by and their cars.
Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces also broke into two Palestinian homes. No arrests were reported.
IOF soldiers have arrested two young men at a military checkpoint between Nablus and Jenin before transferring them to an unknown destination.
In Nablus, occupation forces arrested at dawn today the young man Amjad Bahloul after raiding and searching his home.
In Jerusalem, IOF soldiers arrested last night a number of youths in Issawiya neighborhood and transferred them to investigation centers on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at a disco in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill.
Meanwhile, IOF arrested on Monday a Palestinian farmer in Beit Ummar town northern al-Khalil and confiscated an agricultural tractor.
Palestinian sources said that Israeli forces arrested Uday Hassan Alami after the confiscation of his agricultural tractor at the entrance of Beit Ummar town, and imposed a fine to retrieve it.
Occupation forces erected military checkpoints in Assida town, searching Palestinian passers-by and their cars.
The leadership committee of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons said on Monday that detainee Ibrahim Hamed is still kept in solitary confinement in Ohli Kedar prison in Beer Sheba.
According to the committee, Israeli Prison Services (IPS) is taking measures to complicate the negotiation procedures in order to retain Hamed in isolation.
The committee said in a statement: “The leadership committee for prisoners in Israeli prisons declares that the negotiations with Israeli Prison Services are still going on to end Hamed’s solitary confinement”.
Several obstacles are being set by the IPS to obstruct the negotiation process. Doors are open for several unidentified possibilities, the committee said
Dozens of prisoners in Israeli prisons, including detainee Ibrahim Hamed, have gone on an open hunger strike to protest his isolation.
The IPS was expected to end Hamed’s solitary confinement on Thursday in case he ends his hunger strike, which has been going on for 15 days. But the IPS did not keep up its promise, which led to a solidarity hunger strike by other Palestinian detainees.
According to the committee, Israeli Prison Services (IPS) is taking measures to complicate the negotiation procedures in order to retain Hamed in isolation.
The committee said in a statement: “The leadership committee for prisoners in Israeli prisons declares that the negotiations with Israeli Prison Services are still going on to end Hamed’s solitary confinement”.
Several obstacles are being set by the IPS to obstruct the negotiation process. Doors are open for several unidentified possibilities, the committee said
Dozens of prisoners in Israeli prisons, including detainee Ibrahim Hamed, have gone on an open hunger strike to protest his isolation.
The IPS was expected to end Hamed’s solitary confinement on Thursday in case he ends his hunger strike, which has been going on for 15 days. But the IPS did not keep up its promise, which led to a solidarity hunger strike by other Palestinian detainees.
Palestinians have been subjected to administrative detention since the beginning of the Israeli Occupation
Occupation court extended on Sunday the arrest of 10 Jerusalemite prisoners under the pretext of interrogation. Prisoner Club Society said the Israeli District Court (IDC) extended on Sunday the arrest of Najib Adli, Alaa Zughayyar and Tariq Zorba until next Wednesday and Mohamed Najib until Monday.
IDC extended the arrest of Jihad Qos, Walid Toffaha, Mohammed al-Jundi, Thaer Zughayyar, Naji Zughayyar and Ahmad al-Shawish until next Friday, the society added. In a relevant vein, IDC extended on Sunday the arrest of Naim Zubaidi, 26, from Jenin for the fourth time in a row, Zubaidi's father said.
He said that IDC extended the arrest of his son until May 19 on a lame excuse. Zubaidi is still under interrogation in Jalama prison handcuffed and legs tied. He was arrested on March 22 after Israeli forces stormed Jenin camp and killed three Palestinians. Palestinians have been subjected to administrative detention since the beginning of the Israeli Occupation in 1967 and before that time, under the British Mandate.
The frequency of the use of administrative detention has fluctuated throughout Israel’s occupation, and has been steadily rising since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000.
Occupation court extended on Sunday the arrest of 10 Jerusalemite prisoners under the pretext of interrogation. Prisoner Club Society said the Israeli District Court (IDC) extended on Sunday the arrest of Najib Adli, Alaa Zughayyar and Tariq Zorba until next Wednesday and Mohamed Najib until Monday.
IDC extended the arrest of Jihad Qos, Walid Toffaha, Mohammed al-Jundi, Thaer Zughayyar, Naji Zughayyar and Ahmad al-Shawish until next Friday, the society added. In a relevant vein, IDC extended on Sunday the arrest of Naim Zubaidi, 26, from Jenin for the fourth time in a row, Zubaidi's father said.
He said that IDC extended the arrest of his son until May 19 on a lame excuse. Zubaidi is still under interrogation in Jalama prison handcuffed and legs tied. He was arrested on March 22 after Israeli forces stormed Jenin camp and killed three Palestinians. Palestinians have been subjected to administrative detention since the beginning of the Israeli Occupation in 1967 and before that time, under the British Mandate.
The frequency of the use of administrative detention has fluctuated throughout Israel’s occupation, and has been steadily rising since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000.
Israeli occupation forces stopped family visits for two weeks under the pretext of the Jewish holidays (Passover), the International Committee for the Red Cross(ICRC) announced Sunday evening. Spokesperson of the (ICRC) told ALRAY the Palestinian families have the right to visit their relatives in the Israeli prisons under the international law and conventions.
The Israeli occupation imposes restrictions on the detainees’ families including banning the entry of food and books to prisoners.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) put barriers between the prisoners and their relatives during the visits to prevent them from contacting directly.
It is noteworthy that family visits stopped and then resumed after the prisoners had launched an open-ended hunger strike lasted for 28 days in 2012 which led to signing al-Karama agreement between the Palestinian prisoners and the IPS under the Egyptian auspices.
At the end of December 2013, 4,768 Palestinian security detainees and prisoners were held in Israeli prisons, 317 of them from the Gaza Strip. An additional 1,284 Palestinians were held in Israel Prison Service facilities for being in Israel illegally, 20 of them from the Gaza Strip.
Since 1967, when (Israel) occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This represents approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and 40% of all males.
Despite prohibition by international law, Israel detains Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories to visit them.
The Israeli occupation imposes restrictions on the detainees’ families including banning the entry of food and books to prisoners.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) put barriers between the prisoners and their relatives during the visits to prevent them from contacting directly.
It is noteworthy that family visits stopped and then resumed after the prisoners had launched an open-ended hunger strike lasted for 28 days in 2012 which led to signing al-Karama agreement between the Palestinian prisoners and the IPS under the Egyptian auspices.
At the end of December 2013, 4,768 Palestinian security detainees and prisoners were held in Israeli prisons, 317 of them from the Gaza Strip. An additional 1,284 Palestinians were held in Israel Prison Service facilities for being in Israel illegally, 20 of them from the Gaza Strip.
Since 1967, when (Israel) occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This represents approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and 40% of all males.
Despite prohibition by international law, Israel detains Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories to visit them.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested a number of Issawiya town young residents in occupied Jerusalem. The arrest came on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails at a discothèque in the French Hill neighborhood and at a military base on Mount Scopus in occupied Jerusalem, as claimed by the Israeli radio.
The teenagers were transferred to detention centers so as to be investigated.
In the same context, a citizen from Jenin was arrested by Israeli troops at a military checkpoint near Tulkarem north of the West Bank.
WAFA News Agency said quoting local sources: “IOF arrested the teenager Mustafa Jamel Aghbariya, 19, from Jenin at military checkpoint near Tulkarem.”
IOF has recently arrested Jamel’s three brothers: Tawfiq, Fouad, and Noubani under pretext that their brother Jamel is wanted.
Detention campaigns culminated in the arrest of a public taxi driver and a group of Palestinian youths at Darastia crossroad in Salfit north of the West Bank.
According to PIC news reporter, IOF soldiers detained driver Nael Abdullah and searched his taxi, while another number of Palestinian youngsters were held in custody for one hour while they were on their way out of the town’s crossroad.
Israeli soldiers arrested the youngsters near the town’s western entrance after having confiscated their IDs and meticulously interrogated them, as further maintained by PIC news reporter.
The teenagers were transferred to detention centers so as to be investigated.
In the same context, a citizen from Jenin was arrested by Israeli troops at a military checkpoint near Tulkarem north of the West Bank.
WAFA News Agency said quoting local sources: “IOF arrested the teenager Mustafa Jamel Aghbariya, 19, from Jenin at military checkpoint near Tulkarem.”
IOF has recently arrested Jamel’s three brothers: Tawfiq, Fouad, and Noubani under pretext that their brother Jamel is wanted.
Detention campaigns culminated in the arrest of a public taxi driver and a group of Palestinian youths at Darastia crossroad in Salfit north of the West Bank.
According to PIC news reporter, IOF soldiers detained driver Nael Abdullah and searched his taxi, while another number of Palestinian youngsters were held in custody for one hour while they were on their way out of the town’s crossroad.
Israeli soldiers arrested the youngsters near the town’s western entrance after having confiscated their IDs and meticulously interrogated them, as further maintained by PIC news reporter.
Majd Kayyal arrested and held incommunicado after his return from Lebanon.
Israel has arrested and placed in incommunicado detention the journalist and researcher Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian citizen of Israel.
The Electronic Intifada has obtained the closed court transcript and gag order – which Israeli media are strictly forbidden from publishing – extending the detention and interrogation of 23-year-old Kayyal under the auspices of the Shin Bet (also known as Shabak), Israel’s secret police.
The original document and a full translation are available below.
According to the court document, Kayyal is being investigated for suspicion of “unlawful travel to Arab countries” and “contact with a foreign agent.”
These are, according to the attorney representing Shin Bet, “serious offenses against the security of the state.”
These kinds of accusations are habitually used by Israel’s secret police to target and silence Palestinian citizens of Israel who are active in exposing and challenging Israel’s racist and undemocratic laws and practices.
As well as being a journalist, Kayyal is a web editor at Adalah, a legal advocacy organization for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Kayyal also participated in November 2011 flotilla attempting to break Israel’s maritime siege of Gaza. The flotilla, in which dozens of journalists and activists took part, was intercepted by Israeli forces.
Adalah has previously told the United Nations [PDF] that the restrictions Israel imposes on Palestinian citizens’ travel to and meeting people from other Arab countries – so-called “enemy states” – are part of a policy that “seeks to impose severe limitations on social, cultural and religious ties between … Palestinian citizens of Israel” and the “wider Arab and Muslim nations.”
Arrested Adalah announced on its Facebook page that Kayyal was arrested on Saturday evening at the Sheikh Hussein crossing on the Israeli-Jordanian border.
However an attorney representing the Shin Bet said at a closed court hearing today that Kayyal had been arrested at his home in Haifa.
The news website Arabs 48 published on Facebook the mobile phone photo at the top of this post showing Kayyal as he was being arrested.
Kayyal “was returning from a conference he independently attended to mark the 40th anniversary of the As-Safir newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon,” Adalah said.
Kayyal has frequently written for As-Safir and wrote about his trip to Beirut – his first ever – for the website Jadaliyya.
Kayyal considered his visit to Beirut a dream come true and posted images of himself in the Lebanese capital on his Facebook page.
Adalah noted that its lawyers “attempted to visit Kayyal at the detention camp, but the police issued an order preventing him from meeting with a lawyer.”
Closed hearing On Sunday morning in a closed hearing, Israeli police asked a judge to extend Kayyal’s detention for 15 days, the maximum allowed under the law.
The judge Zayed Falah, a former military prosecutor, extended Kayyal’s detention until 22 April and imposed a total ban on media reporting about Kayyal’s arrest or detention. The judge also decreed that all court proceedings would be closed.
Falah also upheld the ban on Kayyal meeting with lawyers during his detention. Such bans can be extended for 48 hours at a time.
During the hearing, an attorney for Kayyal – who had not been allowed to meet Kayyal – questioned the police attorney regarding Kayyal’s detention.
The police attorney refused to provide details of the supposed evidence against Kayyal, stating that details were in a secret report provided to the judge. The police attorney said Shin Bet had yet to carry out most of its investigations.
Kayyal’s lawyer said that “prohibiting a meeting with an attorney is a gross violation of the suspect’s basic rights.”
Kayyal himself was then brought into the courtroom at which point his family and attorney had to leave the room. According to the court transcript, Kayyal stated:
I ask to be told the names of the attorneys and the court gave me their names. The court has explained to me about the prohibition from meeting attorneys until 14 April 2014, at midnight, and told me that the hearing was held in the presence of my attorneys, who asked the representative of the police questions. The court has explained to me that my father, mother and brother were present in the courtroom. I have nothing further to add.
The full court transcript, which the Israeli public are forbidden from seeing, translated by Dena Shunra, is published below.
Note: The Electronic Intifada has redacted the home address of Kayyal from the court transcript and from the translation.
Translation of court transcript [Seal of the State of Israel]
At the Magistrate’s Court in Haifa
13 April 2013
Days of Arrest 23318-04-14 Central Unit vs. Kayyal
Before the honorable justice Dr. Zayed Falah
Petitioner: Police Central Unit Versus Suspect Majd Kayyal
Present
Attorney for the Petitioner
Restates the content of the petition. Presents the investigative file to the court for perusal. Presents secret material.
Attorney for the Petitioner, in response to questions from the attorney for the suspects:
Q: Are you informed about all the investigative actions taken to date:
A: No.
Q: Have you given the court all the investigative material that has already been collected?
A: Indeed.
Q: Does the material presented to the Court include investigative memoranda and investigative actions that have already been done?
A: Yes.
Q: Have you also conveyed all of the actions that are yet to be taken?
A: Yes.
Q: At what stage is the investigation?
A: The investigation is still at its very beginning. The suspect was only arrested yesterday. According to the material that was found, he is expected to be investigated a few more times and the full future plan is before the court. I cannot commit myself to the number of investigations because I am not an investigator.
Q: What is the suspect suspected of?
A: What appears in the warrant. Contact with a foreign agent, leaving the country unlawfully.
Q: Is there a version for the suspicions?
A: {it is] all before the court. I have not investigated him and I will not investigate him. It’s all by the Security Service [Shabak].
Q: About the foreign agent crime - is it known who he is?
A: I cannot specify. It is all in the secret report.
Q: What are the circumstances of the contact with the agent?
A: It’s indicated in the secret report. As to dates – there is no exact date, everything is in the secret report.
Q: About the two suspicions – are they related?
A: I think so.
Q: Did the contact with the foreign agent happen while he was carrying out the second offense?
A: The investigation is being performed by the security services. All the material is before the court, for perusal. I cannot specify beyond this.
Q: An order restraining a meeting with an attorney at 8. The arrest warrant was issued at 9:30. Explain the gap.
A: It’s a technical computer transaction, [it took] until we took out the computer. He was arrested yesterday evening. He was apprehended at 19:50 hours. This restraining order is under the responsibility of the security entities.
Q: In the matter of the order – did you explain the suspect that he is prohibited from meeting an attorney?
A: I did not review the content of the warning because the security service did the investigation. All the material is before the court and there is a secret report attached. The security services could not appear in court, and that is why I am here.
Q: Did he wish to give a message to his relatives?
A: I know that there was contact with his relatives. He was informed that he is under arrest. Beyond that I have no idea.
Q: Did you inform one of his relatives that he is restrained from contacting an attorney?
A: I have no answer about that. It is in the investigative material.
Q: Was the suspect investigated about one event or about several events?
A: All the material is before the court, all the actions taken from the moment he was arrested to this day. I cannot confirm the number of events.
Q: Can you confirm that the suspect cooperated in his interrogation and answered all the questions?
A: I have not reviewed what was investigated and asked. I was asked to come [here] for extension of the detention. The security services continue their investigation. All the material is before the court.
Q: How many investigative activities did you do yesterday?
A: A preliminary investigation and a continuation today. I don’t know how many investigations were done yesterday. There was a preliminary investigation.
Q: Explain why you are asking for 15 days of detention?
A: These are serious offenses against the security of the state and there is material to be investigated.
Q: Are there details of all 15 days that require his continued detention, in the form of a work plan?
A: There are not specific details of each stage and what is done every day. The actions that are detailed could change, because they are dynamic. They cannot be done when he is discharged. The suspect was arrested at his home in Haifa.
Q: Was the search performed in one house or two?
A: The material is in the investigative file.
Q: Did you have a search warrant?
A: Yes. I know about the search warrant at the up-to-date address, which the Israel Police has. I know one address, [REDACTED] Street.
Q: Did you issue search warrants to two addresses?
A: I issued a search warrant for [REDACTED] Street, which is his address, as recorded in his personal ID card.
Q: Confirm that the suspect has no criminal record.
A: I did not examine his criminal record.
The attorney for the petitioner summarizes:
I repeat the petition. I ask that it be fully granted.
The attorney for the suspect summarizes:
This is a 23-year old journalist, with no criminal record, who was apparently apprehended on the Israel/Jordan border. Since his arrest he has not been permitted to consult an attorney. No notice was given to his attorney and/or his family to visit him in his detention nor with regard to the prohibition on his meeting an attorney. As you know, and it is decided law, that prohibiting a meeting with an attorney is a gross violation of the suspect’s basic rights. I ask the court to take this into account and examine how many actions are required when the suspect is under arrest. I ask that he be released immediately. Alternatively, that he be released under conditions. As another alternative, that the number of days required under detention be reduced.
The suspect is brought into the courtroom, his family and attorney leave the room.
The suspect:
I ask to be told the names of the attorneys and the court gave me their names. The court has explained to me about the prohibition from meeting attorneys until 14 April 2014, at midnight, and told me that the hearing was held in the presence of my attorneys, who asked the representative of the police questions. The court has explained to me that my father, mother and brother were present in the courtroom. I have nothing further to add.
Decision
Handed down and informed today, 13 Nissan 5774, 13 April 2014, in the presence of those persons present.
[signature]
Dr. Zayed Falah, Judge
[END]
Original court document
Israel has arrested and placed in incommunicado detention the journalist and researcher Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian citizen of Israel.
The Electronic Intifada has obtained the closed court transcript and gag order – which Israeli media are strictly forbidden from publishing – extending the detention and interrogation of 23-year-old Kayyal under the auspices of the Shin Bet (also known as Shabak), Israel’s secret police.
The original document and a full translation are available below.
According to the court document, Kayyal is being investigated for suspicion of “unlawful travel to Arab countries” and “contact with a foreign agent.”
These are, according to the attorney representing Shin Bet, “serious offenses against the security of the state.”
These kinds of accusations are habitually used by Israel’s secret police to target and silence Palestinian citizens of Israel who are active in exposing and challenging Israel’s racist and undemocratic laws and practices.
As well as being a journalist, Kayyal is a web editor at Adalah, a legal advocacy organization for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Kayyal also participated in November 2011 flotilla attempting to break Israel’s maritime siege of Gaza. The flotilla, in which dozens of journalists and activists took part, was intercepted by Israeli forces.
Adalah has previously told the United Nations [PDF] that the restrictions Israel imposes on Palestinian citizens’ travel to and meeting people from other Arab countries – so-called “enemy states” – are part of a policy that “seeks to impose severe limitations on social, cultural and religious ties between … Palestinian citizens of Israel” and the “wider Arab and Muslim nations.”
Arrested Adalah announced on its Facebook page that Kayyal was arrested on Saturday evening at the Sheikh Hussein crossing on the Israeli-Jordanian border.
However an attorney representing the Shin Bet said at a closed court hearing today that Kayyal had been arrested at his home in Haifa.
The news website Arabs 48 published on Facebook the mobile phone photo at the top of this post showing Kayyal as he was being arrested.
Kayyal “was returning from a conference he independently attended to mark the 40th anniversary of the As-Safir newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon,” Adalah said.
Kayyal has frequently written for As-Safir and wrote about his trip to Beirut – his first ever – for the website Jadaliyya.
Kayyal considered his visit to Beirut a dream come true and posted images of himself in the Lebanese capital on his Facebook page.
Adalah noted that its lawyers “attempted to visit Kayyal at the detention camp, but the police issued an order preventing him from meeting with a lawyer.”
Closed hearing On Sunday morning in a closed hearing, Israeli police asked a judge to extend Kayyal’s detention for 15 days, the maximum allowed under the law.
The judge Zayed Falah, a former military prosecutor, extended Kayyal’s detention until 22 April and imposed a total ban on media reporting about Kayyal’s arrest or detention. The judge also decreed that all court proceedings would be closed.
Falah also upheld the ban on Kayyal meeting with lawyers during his detention. Such bans can be extended for 48 hours at a time.
During the hearing, an attorney for Kayyal – who had not been allowed to meet Kayyal – questioned the police attorney regarding Kayyal’s detention.
The police attorney refused to provide details of the supposed evidence against Kayyal, stating that details were in a secret report provided to the judge. The police attorney said Shin Bet had yet to carry out most of its investigations.
Kayyal’s lawyer said that “prohibiting a meeting with an attorney is a gross violation of the suspect’s basic rights.”
Kayyal himself was then brought into the courtroom at which point his family and attorney had to leave the room. According to the court transcript, Kayyal stated:
I ask to be told the names of the attorneys and the court gave me their names. The court has explained to me about the prohibition from meeting attorneys until 14 April 2014, at midnight, and told me that the hearing was held in the presence of my attorneys, who asked the representative of the police questions. The court has explained to me that my father, mother and brother were present in the courtroom. I have nothing further to add.
The full court transcript, which the Israeli public are forbidden from seeing, translated by Dena Shunra, is published below.
Note: The Electronic Intifada has redacted the home address of Kayyal from the court transcript and from the translation.
Translation of court transcript [Seal of the State of Israel]
At the Magistrate’s Court in Haifa
13 April 2013
Days of Arrest 23318-04-14 Central Unit vs. Kayyal
Before the honorable justice Dr. Zayed Falah
Petitioner: Police Central Unit Versus Suspect Majd Kayyal
Present
- Attorney for the petitioner – Warrant Officer Marcel Daman
- Attorney for the suspect – Adv. Aram Mahamid and Adv. Fadi Khouri
- Suspect – no appearance (he is brought into the court after the interrogation by the attorney for the suspect and the summaries)
- Relatives of the suspect – his father, brother and mother
Attorney for the Petitioner
Restates the content of the petition. Presents the investigative file to the court for perusal. Presents secret material.
Attorney for the Petitioner, in response to questions from the attorney for the suspects:
Q: Are you informed about all the investigative actions taken to date:
A: No.
Q: Have you given the court all the investigative material that has already been collected?
A: Indeed.
Q: Does the material presented to the Court include investigative memoranda and investigative actions that have already been done?
A: Yes.
Q: Have you also conveyed all of the actions that are yet to be taken?
A: Yes.
Q: At what stage is the investigation?
A: The investigation is still at its very beginning. The suspect was only arrested yesterday. According to the material that was found, he is expected to be investigated a few more times and the full future plan is before the court. I cannot commit myself to the number of investigations because I am not an investigator.
Q: What is the suspect suspected of?
A: What appears in the warrant. Contact with a foreign agent, leaving the country unlawfully.
Q: Is there a version for the suspicions?
A: {it is] all before the court. I have not investigated him and I will not investigate him. It’s all by the Security Service [Shabak].
Q: About the foreign agent crime - is it known who he is?
A: I cannot specify. It is all in the secret report.
Q: What are the circumstances of the contact with the agent?
A: It’s indicated in the secret report. As to dates – there is no exact date, everything is in the secret report.
Q: About the two suspicions – are they related?
A: I think so.
Q: Did the contact with the foreign agent happen while he was carrying out the second offense?
A: The investigation is being performed by the security services. All the material is before the court, for perusal. I cannot specify beyond this.
Q: An order restraining a meeting with an attorney at 8. The arrest warrant was issued at 9:30. Explain the gap.
A: It’s a technical computer transaction, [it took] until we took out the computer. He was arrested yesterday evening. He was apprehended at 19:50 hours. This restraining order is under the responsibility of the security entities.
Q: In the matter of the order – did you explain the suspect that he is prohibited from meeting an attorney?
A: I did not review the content of the warning because the security service did the investigation. All the material is before the court and there is a secret report attached. The security services could not appear in court, and that is why I am here.
Q: Did he wish to give a message to his relatives?
A: I know that there was contact with his relatives. He was informed that he is under arrest. Beyond that I have no idea.
Q: Did you inform one of his relatives that he is restrained from contacting an attorney?
A: I have no answer about that. It is in the investigative material.
Q: Was the suspect investigated about one event or about several events?
A: All the material is before the court, all the actions taken from the moment he was arrested to this day. I cannot confirm the number of events.
Q: Can you confirm that the suspect cooperated in his interrogation and answered all the questions?
A: I have not reviewed what was investigated and asked. I was asked to come [here] for extension of the detention. The security services continue their investigation. All the material is before the court.
Q: How many investigative activities did you do yesterday?
A: A preliminary investigation and a continuation today. I don’t know how many investigations were done yesterday. There was a preliminary investigation.
Q: Explain why you are asking for 15 days of detention?
A: These are serious offenses against the security of the state and there is material to be investigated.
Q: Are there details of all 15 days that require his continued detention, in the form of a work plan?
A: There are not specific details of each stage and what is done every day. The actions that are detailed could change, because they are dynamic. They cannot be done when he is discharged. The suspect was arrested at his home in Haifa.
Q: Was the search performed in one house or two?
A: The material is in the investigative file.
Q: Did you have a search warrant?
A: Yes. I know about the search warrant at the up-to-date address, which the Israel Police has. I know one address, [REDACTED] Street.
Q: Did you issue search warrants to two addresses?
A: I issued a search warrant for [REDACTED] Street, which is his address, as recorded in his personal ID card.
Q: Confirm that the suspect has no criminal record.
A: I did not examine his criminal record.
The attorney for the petitioner summarizes:
I repeat the petition. I ask that it be fully granted.
The attorney for the suspect summarizes:
This is a 23-year old journalist, with no criminal record, who was apparently apprehended on the Israel/Jordan border. Since his arrest he has not been permitted to consult an attorney. No notice was given to his attorney and/or his family to visit him in his detention nor with regard to the prohibition on his meeting an attorney. As you know, and it is decided law, that prohibiting a meeting with an attorney is a gross violation of the suspect’s basic rights. I ask the court to take this into account and examine how many actions are required when the suspect is under arrest. I ask that he be released immediately. Alternatively, that he be released under conditions. As another alternative, that the number of days required under detention be reduced.
The suspect is brought into the courtroom, his family and attorney leave the room.
The suspect:
I ask to be told the names of the attorneys and the court gave me their names. The court has explained to me about the prohibition from meeting attorneys until 14 April 2014, at midnight, and told me that the hearing was held in the presence of my attorneys, who asked the representative of the police questions. The court has explained to me that my father, mother and brother were present in the courtroom. I have nothing further to add.
Decision
- I have before me a request to extend the suspect’s detention for 15 days, due to suspicion of committing the crimes of contact with a foreign agent and unlawful travel to Arab countries.
- I have reviewed the evidentiary material presented to me and have been persuaded that there is reasonable cause to suspect that the suspect has committed the crimes he is charged with. I have also been persuaded that there is the risk that if he is released he could disrupt the investigation and endanger public security.
- I have perused the secret report prepared by the Shabak, which I have marked BM/1. This report includes background, investigative actions taken, and investigative actions that are still required, and I have been persuaded that the security entities must be permitted to complete their investigation fully, to come to the study of the truth.
- I considered the possibility of releasing the suspect for an alternative form of custody and come to the conclusion that at this stage, there is no space for any alternative.
- I have taken into account the fact that an order has been issued to prohibit meeting an attorney and I have also taken into account that the court must be permitted to oversee the investigative actions performed by the security entities, and for this reason I have decided to grant a number of detention days [than those] requested.
- For this reason, I am extending the detention of the suspect until 22 April 2014, at 10am.
- I issue an order prohibiting publication with regard to all proceedings in this case until 22 April 2014 at 10:00 and the proceedings will be held in camera until that date.
Handed down and informed today, 13 Nissan 5774, 13 April 2014, in the presence of those persons present.
[signature]
Dr. Zayed Falah, Judge
[END]
Original court document
