Ofer - Assault of soldier/policeman, Interrogation of Witness

Translation: Marganit W.

Question to the court: Was the detainee wearing only bra and panties while the search was conducted?

Another hearing in the case of Arij Hushiya before Judge Lieut. Col Sebastian Osovsky.

We have reported several times before on Arij’s case. She is the young woman who came to Qalandiya Checkpoint with her disabled sister. The sister panicked and bolted. Arij ran after her, and when she was back at the checkpoint the soldiers tore up her permit to travel to Jerusalem. Arij lost it and threatened the soldier with a hairpin that  she plucked from her headgear. She was charged with attempted homicide.

In previous hearings the witnesses for the prosecution testified, but Atty. Fadi Qawasme has since obtained further information about the interrogation (based on a complaint lodged by an Adameer lawyer), and he now requested to summon one of the witnesses to testify again.

In examination the soldier admitted that Moran, a female soldier, had started the search, but later asked him and another guard to join her. He said it was a “strip search.”

It turned out that the search on Arij’s body was carried out in the presence of two men. To remove any doubt the judge asked if the detainee was wearing only bra and panties.

The attorney did not bring this up in earlier hearings because Arij had not told him about it. She was too ashamed. Now it was brought in the open. This explains things that the detainee had said during the search.

In earlier testimony the witness said that the search involved stripping. The fact that this was not included in the report is not his responsibility, he claimed. He admitted that the police statement included the fact that a body search had been carried out. From his perspective, in those circumstances, it was clear that the detainee had to strip.

The first remand extension hearing in Arij’s case took place in December 2017. The judge was Azriel Levi who extended the remand by only one day, said, “I have doubts about the cognitive abilities of the detainee.”

It is August now and the farce continues.

A defense hearing was set for 16.8.18.