Court releases three demonstrators from anti-Prawer protest in Kufr Kanna and extends detention of two others until 31 July
Adalah Attorney Jalal Dakwar: “The court’s decision is arbitrary and unjustified and the judge totally disregarded the defense’s arguments”
On 28 July 2013, the Nazareth Magistrates’ Court extended the detention of two Arab demonstrators, Majd Dahamashe and Muhammad Taha, until Wednesday, 31 July. The court also decided to release on bail the Director of the Galilee Society, Bakr Awawdeh, together with Abdel Kareem Dahamshe and Ibrahim Amara. The five men participated in an anti-Prawer protest held in the Arab village of Kufr Kanna on 27 July. However, the court denied the police’s request to extend the detention of all five men for 15 days.
The police have accused the demonstrators of engaging in rioting that led to damages, and of endangering the lives of pedestrians on a public highway. Adalah Attorney Jalal Dakwar, who is part of the defense team before the Nazareth Magistrates’ Court, stated that, “The court’s decision is arbitrary and unjustified and the judge totally disregarded the defense’s arguments. In addition, the conditions imposed on the released detainees are excessive and overblown.”
Attorney Dakwar added, “The request to extend the detention of the five demonstrators for ten days is unwarranted and unreasonable, and is an attempt to inflate the case and intimidate the detainees. It is not grounded in any law or in the course of events at the demonstration.”
A campaign of arrests
The five demonstrators were arrested as part of an ongoing campaign of arrests and detentions implemented by the Israeli police since 15 July 2013, the date of a public strike and mass demonstrations held by Arab citizens of Israel in protest against the Prawer-Begin Law. The police attacked demonstrators in Sakhnin and Bir el-Sabe (Beer Sheva).
Despite the police’s brutality and the continuing campaign of arrests, protests against the Prawer-Begin Law, which passed a first reading in the Knesset in late June, continue to be held in Arab towns and villages across Israel. The law seeks to forcibly displace 40,000 to 70,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel from their homes in the Naqab (Negev) and confiscate over 800,000 dunams of their land.
Read more:
Press Releases on 15 July Protests and Detainees: Bir el-Sabe and Sakhnin
More about the Prawer Plan
Police arresting demonstrators at an anti-Prawer protest in Kufr Kanna, 27 July 2013
