Russian Compound, Jerusalem - Remand Extension, Barred (from meeting with attorney)

Translation: Diana Rubanenko

Russian Compound 

Judge: Avri Einhorn

Police Investigator: Omri……

 Attorneys: Ma’amoun Hashim, Firas Sabah, Fahmi Shkirat

                      There were 7 cases in the docket, in 6 of which of suspects banned from meeting an attorney.

Ibrahim Kada Muhammad Darawi – I.D. 852802671

Defence Attorney: Fahmi Shkirat

 Charge: Activity against regional security. The police requests another 15 days. A ping-pong of questions and answers took place between the defence attorney and the police representative. The police officer’s answer to all the questions asked was the usual: “I refer you to the confidential material”.

For example:

Q. “Is the detainee a member of a specific organization?”

A. “I can’t answer that.”

Q. “Has the suspect linked himself to military activity?”

A. “Can’t answer that.”

The defence attorney sought the court’s intervention, and the court instructed the investigator to “answer the defence attorney’s question”.

 A. “Partially”.

The defence attorney then asked “Partially yes, or partially no?”

Assisted by the judge, the investigator answered “Yes, partially”.

After the summing up, the investigator asked us to leave the court before the detainee was brought in for questioning, without the presence of an attorney and other people. We presented the recommendation of the preliminary injunction of the Supreme Court, asking judges to consider our remaining in the court for hearings, to grant a public character to the deliberations. Mr. Einhorn, the judge, read the recommendation attentively and pointed out that even the families were not present in the court. The investigator explained that not all the families have the option of entering Jerusalem. Since the preliminary injunction does not state specifically that the judge is obliged to keep us in court as “the eyes of the public”, he decided that he did not agree for us to remain. We asked for it to appear in the minutes that he refused to have us present in court.

 The judge’s decision: 15 additional days of remand.

Hassin Ali Hassan Kawasme – ID 933405375

The detainee is banned from meeting an attorney; this is the third request to extend his remand.

 The defence attorney: Ma’amoun Hashim

 Kawasme has been detained since 9.8.11.

The charge: Murder, in the Jerusalem central bus station.

 The police seek another 15 days remand.

In this case too, the defence attorney tried to obtain information about the need for a further extension, about the hours of investigation, and the health of the suspect. The answers were identical. The defence attorney’s persistence irritated the judge.

In his summing-up, Ma’amoun Hashim stated his surprise that the GSS  published in its press release that “a a terror unit had been captured", incuding information withheld from the suspect’s defence attorney. On one hand, there is a gag order, yet on the other hand confidential material is published in the press.

After the defence attorney finished presenting his summation, we were asked to leave. The judge informed us that a note concerning his refusal for us to be present in the part of the questioning of the detainee at which the defence attorney is not present, would appear in the minutes.

We left the Russian Compound. It has been two months since we were last in this court… and absolutely nothing has changed.