Just before the start of Shabbat, the ISA extended a special order barring two detainees from meeting with legal counsel for an additional 48 hours, until Sunday at 18:00. The detainees, one of whom is married and a father, have been held since Tuesday without access to a lawyer, and their condition remains unknown.
Attorneys Asaf Gonen and Daniel Shimshilashvili from the Honenu legal organization plan to file an appeal Saturday night with the Central District Court, challenging the extension of the ban.
The wife of one of the detainees released a video expressing deep concern for her husband's wellbeing. “My husband has been held for several days by the ISA without seeing a lawyer. I’m really worried. I don’t know what’s happening to him or what they’re doing to him,” she said.
She claimed her husband’s only offense was participating in a protest outside an ISA facility. “It’s absurd. The ISA is treating him like a terrorist just because he protested in front of their offices. This cannot continue.”
In a separate appeal, the parents of the second detainee — residents of Beit El — contacted the ISA’s rabbi ahead of Shabbat, urging him to intervene to protect their son’s life, dignity, and physical well-being. They also asked that he not be interrogated during Shabbat.
“We are deeply worried about our son’s health and the protection of his basic rights,” the parents wrote. “We turn to you as someone with influence over what happens inside the interrogation cells. We ask that you act on his behalf.”
According to the parents, their son and the other detainee are suspected of setting tires on fire and throwing paint at an ISA facility during a protest about two months ago. “Such acts are common at protests across the country. But in Israel, it seems the right to protest is only granted to demonstrators on one side of the political map,” they added.
Honenu CEO Shmuel Medad also addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a formal letter, calling on him to remove the investigation from the ISA due to a conflict of interest.
“In light of the serious concerns that the ISA is abusing its authority against those who protest against it, and given the agency’s direct involvement in this matter, I urge you to intervene and transfer the investigation to a different authority,” Medad wrote.