Judge rejects police appeal against release of Duma suspect

Hearing on fate of additional suspects to be held Wednesday.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: DECEMBER 30, 2015 09:35
The Dawabsha family home in Duma (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The Dawabsha family home in Duma
(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
The Lod District Court on Tuesday rejected a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) appeal against the release to house arrest of one out of six Duma attack suspects.
The judge did so after the prosecutors told the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court a day earlier that the Jewish 18-yearold in question would not face charges in connection to the July terrorist attack in the West Bank village of Duma, in which three Palestinian family members were killed.
He was barred from seeing an attorney for his first 17 days in custody.
The Shin Bet and the state immediately appealed to the Lod court, but were rejected.
The young man was released on Tuesday evening after 29 days in custody, following a slight delay in which further appeals were contemplated.
His attorney, Hai Haber, said that for the last month this young man had cried and screamed that he had no connection to the Duma murders, to no avail.
“This investigation is out of control and the number of arrests is only growing,” Haber said.
“The [Shin Bet’s] hand has been too light on the trigger, both in terms of arrests and its violent interrogation methods,” Haber said.
He and other attorneys representing the Jewish Duma suspects, as well as the non-governmental legal aid organization Honenu, have charged that the Shin Bet tortured the suspects while in custody. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has denied such charges.
The Shin Bet has another five suspects in custody. Legal hearings for three of them are expected to be held on Wednesday.
It is unclear whether the state will ask to extend their arrests or read out pre-indictment charges against them.
Mothers of the suspects appealed to the wives of top security officials, asking them to help stop the torture and unjust arrests.
“It is not clear to us if we will receive in return the same children that were taken from us,” they said.