Yitzhar
YitzharFlash 90

A serious complaint was filed Wednesday against policemen and detectives who performed a police check on a Yitzhar resident while he was in the mikveh (ritual bathhouse).

Attorney Menashe Yado of the Honenu organization which offers legal assistance to people to protect and preserve their rights to receive a fair judicial process, described the incident.

"On Sunday my client was showering in the shower at the mikveh in the town of Yitzhar. Suddenly two police pulled the curtain open and stood in front of him while he was unclothed demanding his ID," he said.

"I dont understand in what course police learned to demand an ID from a person while he is in the shower but that is the less significant part. The two policemen shone their torch on my client while he was naked and helpless, asked for his ID and began investigating him. My client became angry and shouted at them to let him shower in privacy," wrote Yado.

Yado said that his client's shouts convinced the policemen who left and waited in the dressing room. When my client came into the dressing room the policemen didn't let him dress and interrogated him about his identity while he was wearing a towel."

The upshot of the incident was that the resident was interrogated at a police station and it was found that it was a case of mistaken identity and the police were actually not looking for him. Yado added that the whole incident occurred in the presence of other residents who were in the mikveh at the time.

Yado concluded that "the policemen gratuitously infringed on a person's honor and impinged on his privacy. The police in Yitzhar allow themselves to breach many rules and in this case they breached another rule when they interrogated a person without any concrete suspicion while he was still in the shower."