Detainees refuse conditional release

Monday, June 12, 2017, 18:52 Over the past few hours seven youths who were detained this morning have been brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court on suspicion of violating their administrative distancing orders and the order prohibiting them from making contact with certain individuals. The detainees, some of them minors, are being represented by Honenu Attorney Nati Rom. They are refusing to be released under the conditions offered by the police because, “The GSS and the police are abusing and persecuting us.”
The restrictive orders are signed by the GOC of the Home Front Command, Major-General Tamir Yadai and the GOC of the Central Command, Major-General Roni Numa. The orders, which were issued without a trial and without charges stated, distance the youths from Yehuda and Shomron, prohibit them from making contact with certain individuals and place some of them under house arrest at night.
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom, who is representing the youths, stated that, “This decision was made by the detainees who feel persecuted. It is sad to see that the police and the GSS are causing youths with their whole lives ahead of them to prefer to stay behind bars rather than be released from remand. This decision by the detainees must set off an alarm with anyone who values human rights. This is an undemocratic and outrageous use of administrative procedures which has been trampling their rights for years already. These are idealistic youths whose energy could be harnessed to settle and make desolate areas bloom. Unfortunately the difficult reality and the incorrect decisions of the security forces are deepening the rift and causing alienation. It is a shame that the GSS is not putting a stop to the trampling of their rights and finding a solution to this situation.”