Following Adalah's Response, Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit Withdraws Request to Exhume Body of Asil Asleh Killed by Police in October 2000

On 7 June 2005, the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit ("Mahash") informed the Akka (Acre) Magistrate Court that it was withdrawing its request to exhume and autopsy the body of Asil Asleh, 17-years-old, from the Arab town of Arrabe, in the Galilee. Asil Asleh, an active member of the “Seeds of Peace” youth movement, was one of thirteen Palestinian citizens of Israel who were killed by police during the October 2000 mass demonstrations held in towns and villages throughout Israel to protest the government's oppressive policies against Palestinians in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Mahash submitted its motion to exhume the deceased's body in October 2004, four years after his death. Explaining its decision to cancel the request, Mahash stated that, "exhuming the body would not necessarily contribute to ascertaining the circumstances under which the deceased died." Mahash had originally argued that the exhumation and autopsy were necessary for determining the truth about the circumstances under which he was killed, and claimed that no alternatives to this measure existed.

At a Court hearing held in February 2005, Adalah argued that Mahash's motion, coming four years after the death of the deceased occurred, was unprecedented. Representing the Asleh family, Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Marwan Dalal argued that Mahash's request was undertaken in bad faith, emphasizing that in the interim between Mr. Asleh's death and the request to exhume his body, Mahash had failed to seriously investigate the killing. Thus, Adalah contended that this move – with the vehement opposition of the Asleh family - harms the dignity of both the deceased and his family as well as their religious beliefs.

Mahash's failure to undertake a serious investigation occurred in spite of Adalah's repeated requests to investigate since October 2000, as well as the recommendations issued by the official Or Commission of Inquiry in its final report of September 2003. Mahash's failure in this regard constitutes gross neglect of its professional duties, Adalah argued.

Adalah further noted that such neglect was not an isolated incident, and pointed to Mahash's failure to examine the autopsies of four other individuals who were killed by police officers during the protest demonstrations of October 2000, despite the fact that the autopsy reports were in Mahash's possession shortly after the deaths occurred.

Adalah submitted remarks to the Court made by former Supreme Court Justice and head of the Or Commission, Theodor Or, during a lecture he gave at Tel Aviv University in 2004, which illustrate the extent of Mahash's failure to fulfill its professional responsibilities in cases concerning the killing of Arab citizens of Israel during October 2000:

In general, Mahash did not collect evidence relating to the events surrounding the killings of the citizens, did not gather evidence at the scene, and did not attempt to locate any of the police officers who were involved in the incidents shortly after the incidents occurred.

During the February 2005 Court hearing, Mahash admitted that it had not launched any investigation into the killing of the deceased, even after the publication of the Or Commission's report. Mahash's withdrawal of the motion to exhume the deceased's body followed the Court's demand that it provide a written reply to Adalah's arguments, in light of the Asleh family's strong opposition.

Case No. 1018/04, The State of Israel In Re: Asil Asleh (Magistrate Court, Akka).