Ofer - Administrative Detention, Health Problems
Translation: Marganit W.
Morning and Afternoon
On Mondays and Thursdays traffic cases are heard at Ofer. Dozens of men were crowding the entrance in addition to many family members who came for the other trials.
Traffic cases took place in two courtrooms where police prosecutors and attorneys argued around the prosecution table, then presented the judge with their decision.
Many of the reports were given to the police prosecutor or to one of the interpreters at the gate, and were later returned with a printed page (presumably the decision) and a little printed note that looked like a receipt from a cash register.
Since there were so many people present, I was unable to figure out the process. One thing was clear: the sums paid were high.
In the Military Court of Appeals, Atty. Fadi Qawassme handed Justice Ronen Atzmon an appeal of the continued detention of Issa Ja’abari.
Ja’abari had been under administrative detention for 2 years before his release. The attorney reminds the court that on 13.6.14 a wave of arrests began in the West Bank, and yet Issa Ja’abari was not arrested for a month and half, which indicates that he was not considered dangerous.
There was no immediate response.
Atty. Ahlam Haddad appeals the continued detention of a sick detainee who showed up in court on crutches. She points out that two months earlier a decision had been given to send him to have a CT scan, but this was not carried out.
An appeal by the prosecution for the acquittal of the Nuaja brothers from South Hebron Mountain (see report from 25.5.14), submitted by Atty. Nery Ramati was postponed.
Atty. Ramati appeals before Justice Nethanel Benishou the release on bail of Kafah Mansour Ali Mansour – ID 411018989.
The defense argues that the condition mandating that Kafah report every week to Binyamin Police Station is pointless and unreasonable. He is supposed to come there for an interrogation, but he is not interrogated at Benyamin station. He has the investigator’s phone number, and the latter has Kafah’s and the attorney’s phone numbers. There is also the matter of the bond.
In his decision the judge states that according to the prosecution, there is no need for the appellant to be summoned, and the attorney is willing to serve as contact and guarantee Kafah’s appearance before the court as needed.
In addition, the appellant gave his phone number, and he declared that he would report if notified by phone. The order to report to the police every week is hereby rescinded, but the order of the money deposit stays.
(See earlier report regarding the Kafah Mansour case from Russian Compound from 7.8.14)
Atty. Awda Zbeidi appeals the 15-day remand extension in the case of
Nidal Ibrahim Muhammad Saleh– ID 949959409
(see earlier report from Russian Compound from 21.8.14)
Atty. Zbeidi reports that no information has been coming from the prosecution regarding the charges; there is only a general statement that the suspect is involved in some activity that endangers security in the region. In her opinion 15 days is unreasonable, and the court should monitor more closely the progress of the investigation. Her client has informed her that he has not been told what he is suspected of; he was only asked about other people. He has not given a statement to the police, so there is no way of knowing if the case against him is getting stronger.
In addition, when he was 15, he was shot by the army and had to undergo 12 surgeries. He has a serious intestinal condition and he tires easily, thus he cannot tolerate the GSS interrogations, which are notoriously long.
No decision was immediately given, but the next day I learned from Atty. Zbeidi that the appeal was postponed and will resume next Monday, 1.9.14 at the Russian Compound.
Atty. Akram Samara submitted an appeal in the case of a detainee barred from seeing an attorney for two weeks now. While the detainee is brought in, the attorney has to wait outside.
In the trial of the Jahalin residents (see report from 10.8.14), Halil Jahalin was brought in for an 8-day remand extension.
The indictment will be presented on Monday 1.9.14.
It is 34 degrees and people who have waited since morning fill the waiting room and the yard. Many people who do not know the attorney representing their relative, and naturally had no chance of conferring with him before the trial, ask me to go to the court and look for the attorney and tell him/her that the family is waiting in the yard. Since I have some privileges there, I try to oblige. But I am ambivalent about doing so: on the one hand, I would like to help the Palestinians, on the other, though, my free entry into the courts and my access to the wardens may establish my status as the “humanitarian” face of the court.
The truth is that I am there as part of the protest against the courts and against the occupation; this is what I tell all the Palestinians who ask me what I am doing there.