The State retracted a serious indictment filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court against a young man who wanted to ascend the Temple Mount, following the publication of a video documenting his arrest.
According to the indictment, filed about a year ago, the defendant, who had sought to ascend the Temple Mount while wearing his tefilin, refused to comply with the policemen's demand to remove the tefilin from his head. After his refusal, the police asked the defendant to go with them through the Mugrabi Gate, and he agreed.
According to the indictment, the defendant suddenly stopped walking with the tefilin, clung to the railing of the bridge, and refused to move. The police informed the defendant that he was under arrest, and during the attempted arrest he was also accused of biting the hand of one of the policemen "and causing him to bruise his left wrist until the policeman Nitzan was forced to give the defendant a blow to release his hand."
Following the accusation, the young man was charged with assaulting a policeman under aggravated circumstances, and the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office announced that it intended to demand a prison sentence against him.
The policeman's report also stated that after the young man began moving with the police to the exit gate, he suddenly stopped, began to gasp the railing, and refused the policeman's repeated requests to leave.
Later on, the policeman describes that the defendant began to push more policemen, and he was afraid to run up the bridge that he had to be stopped by force. The policeman and the defendant fell to the floor, and during the struggle the defendant bit him with his left hand, according to the report.
However, a video presented by the defense documenting the moments of the arrest presented a completely different picture. The video shows the young man standing next to the policemen, when suddenly for no apparent reason two policemen hold him tightly and push him toward the bridge railing. The video shows that a third policeman joins them, and together they subdue the young man. It should be noted that throughout the entire video there is no violence on the part of the accused.
The video contradicts both the indictment and the details of the policeman's action report, and the judge decided to cancel the indictment against the young man, and the judge at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, Einat Avman-Müller, decided to cancel the indictment.
Attorney Avihai Hajabi of the Honenu organization representing the defendant said in response: "My client's only crime was that he sought to enter with tefilin on his head. My client did not attack but was brutally assaulted by the policemen there. Luckily, a video that was in our possession and was documented by a passerby clearly supported the claims of my client. We will use all legal means to exhaust the legal proceedings against the attacking police," added Hajabi.