Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in a Tuesday morning interview with Army Radio addressed the interrogation of detainees in the Duma Village arson case, as well as repeated allegations concerning their serious prison conditions, including the ban on meetings with their attorneys. Ya’alon said that security forces already know who was behind the arson, but they still lack evidence. “We think we know who the group responsible for this act is, which is why we are taking draconian measures such as arrests and administrative detentions. What we are lacking is evidence to present in court, but I believe that eventually we can bring them to justice,” Ya’alon said.
Yaalon’s remarks were similar to the ones made on Monday by Deputy Attorney General Raz Nazri in a debate at the Knesset Committee on Constitution, Law and Justice. When asked why the Shabak is preventing the Duma case detainees from seeing their attorneys, Nazri said: “In some cases it saves lives. Does that justify it in your eyes? Neither Hamas nor [legal aid society] Honenu have a shortage of lawyers.”
Nazri admitted to the committee that the Shabak and the police have resorted to extraordinary measures in interrogating the suspects in the Duma Village arson case, where three members of the Dawabsha family perished. Nazri reiterated that all the actions against the suspects have been supervised and carried out with the approval of the Attorney General himself, including preventing them from seeing a judge within 48 hours after their arrest, extending the detention of one suspect by the Supreme Court in his absence, and keeping them from conferring with their attorneys for three weeks, which may now be extended further. The details of the investigation are still under a gag order.
A Shabak representative at the committee debate explained that the detainees are being prevented from seeing a lawyer because “it happens many times that lawyers transmit information between detainees and between the detainees and elements outside the prison. Sometimes this information reaches very far. We had quite a few cases of terrorist organizations that used their legal counsel this way because it’s accessible,” he said.
The aunt of one of the suspects in the arson attack on Monday criticized the manner in which the investigation in the case is being conducted. She said the Shabak has been using extreme measures against her nephew, who was arrested two weeks ago—for no reason, she claimed. “It doesn’t make sense that in a democracy things are conducted in such a way,” she said.