Attorneys for the Jewish youths recently arrested by the Shin Bet left a hearing room in the Lod District Court Wednesday morning in protest after their clients wer barred from the hearing. The youths are suspected of being involved in the death of Aysha al-Rabi, an Arab woman killed in a car accident after her vehicle was stoned.
The attorneys, Hai Haber and Amir Bracha from the Honenu organization, refused to take part in the hearing an appeal they filed to discuss the extended imprisonment of their clients, until the suspects were brought from the interrogation room to the courtroom.
For the time being, the judge, Shin Bet and police representatives stayed in the courtroom without the suspects’ representatives.
“Today, there has been a new escalation. We filed an appeal to the court against the Magistrate Court’s decision to extend the [suspects’] detention," said Haber outside the court house.
"As we all know, detention proceedings are held when the suspects are in the courtroom. [In this case] the investigating unit decided that it did not want to bring them [the suspects] and wanted to hold the hearing in their absence. That is not appropriate. There is no such a thing as a detention procedure in the absence of the suspect. Therefore, we the attorneys, got up and left the court room.
“If the system wants to hold one-sided hearings, where the suspects are not present, then we won't be present. They should decide what they want to do. There should be a dialogue between the investigating unit and the court to discuss how to prosecute. Be it by extending the detention or accepting the appeal, to should do what they want. We are not going to participate in this game. There is a limit to what we will accept.
“We left the court hearing and are waiting for the court to inform us [on their decision]. We will only hold discussions when the suspects are present. We are talking about minors without criminal records. Some of who are younger than sixteen,” Haber added.