Honenu, the Israeli legal rights and aid organization announced that the two remaining minors from Bat Ayin who were arrested by police on suspicion of being involved in the August 16th firebomb attack on the Arab taxi will be released on Friday morning.
On Wednesday, a third minor was unconditionally released, other than being forbidden to contact the other two children.
The two other minors, ages 12 and 13, were left in police custody. The Police have been limiting their access to their lawyer over the past few days.
The three minors were originally among those rounded up and questioned by police on the night of the attack. The police then arrested the three children a few days later.
Last Sunday, the court said the police must release the minors, unless significant new evidence appears. On Monday, the police said they had new information and the court said the police could, in that case, extend the detention until Thursday.
The court decided that the remaining two children should be released to house arrest for one week with a NIS 2500 shekel third party guarantee for bail.
The Honenu lawyer for the minors, David Halevy, said that it appears that the police never had any evidence against the children and were simply trying to drag a false confession out of them by depriving them of their basic legal rights.
Two of the Arab victims said they saw a man in his twenties throw the firebomb.
The Rabbi of Bat Ayin, Daniel Cohen, condemned the attack in a letter to Bat Ayin residents. In the letter he expressed the hope that the children of Bay Ayin weren’t involved despite the suspicions against them, and called for ‘soul searching’ on the part of the town as the allegations have been primarily directed at them.