Due Process in Sharon's Israel
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Last update - 18:28 04/07/2005
Court extends remand for suspect in Muasi lynchBy Yuval Yoaz and Nir Hason, Haaretz Correspondents
The Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court issued a seven-day remand extension Monday for Shimshon Sitrin, the settler said to be the ringleader of the mob that tried to lynch a Palestinian youth at Muasi beach in Gaza on Wednesday. Detectives belonging to the Southern District Police arrested Sitrin on Sunday after identifying the suspect, a resident of a West Bank Settlement, in Beit Shemesh thanks to the media's video footage of the incident. They then followed him to Jerusalem where they moved in to arrest him. Sitrin resisted arrest and managed to escape but was caught a few minutes later, still resisting and refusing to identify himself. Sitrin is the only suspect to be arrested more than four days after the incident, but police sources remained confident that the other suspects will be brought into custody soon. The bulk of the evidence against the suspects rest upon camera footage taken by the media at the site of the attempted lynching. Video crews taped several Jewish youths trying to lynch a Palestinian during an evacuation of Jewish disnegagement-foes that had illegally occupied a Palestinian house at Muasi beach. In the videos Jewish youths are heard shouting "lynch him, lynch him", and seen throwing stones. The Palestinian took a few direct blows to the head and lost consciousness. His life was saved thanks to a few IDF soldiers and journalists who took him to saftey. Over the last few days police have received a number of videos of the attack assisting them in the investigation. Remands of 6 youths involved in seizing Muasi home extended Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia on Sunday extended the remands of six 13-year-olds who took part in seizing a Palestinian house in the Muasi area in the Gaza Strip last week. Their remands were extended until Wednesday afternoon. Procaccia ordered police to expedite the investigation on the incident as soon as possible, so as to avoid the extended detention of the youths. "This was a mass, violent incident involving a group of Jews seizing a building owned by Palestinians, throwing rocks at Palestinians and injuring at least one of them, and a refusal to adhere to the orders of security forces," Procaccia wrote. The judge added that the disturbance may have marked the beginning of additional violent disturbances that must be stopped. "The presence of children in detention for means of interrogation is a high price that they and their families are paying for the willingness of the initiators of the disturbances to use youths. The youths' parents have a heavy responsibility rush their children from the heart of danger and place them outside the ideological struggle that they are leading, which is a matter for adults," Procaccia wrote. |