Adalah Submits Appeal Against Mahash's Decision to Close File on Police Brutality Complaint in Beineh Due to "Lack of Public Interest"

24/04/2005

On 19 April 2005, Adalah filed an appeal to the Attorney General (AG), requesting that he cancel the decision of the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) not to indict police officers involved in a house demolition operation due to "lack of public interest". The police operation, in which hundreds of officers took part, occurred in Beineh on 25 February 2004, and involved brutal assaults on unarmed residents, widespread damage to residential property, extensive harm to residents' livestock, refusal to provide medical attention to injured residents, and racist verbal abuse on the part of police officers.

A year ago, in April 2004, Adalah filed a detailed complaint to Mahash on behalf of ten Arab citizens of Israel from the Galilee village of Beineh, comprised of five members of the Titi family, three members of the Bakri family, Mr. Salah Dabah and Ms. Fatima Hassarmeh. The complainants requested that Mahash open a criminal investigation and indict the police officers who assaulted them during the operation.

In the appeal filed to the AG in April 2005, submitted on behalf of the same ten Beineh residents, Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker argued that an examination of Mahash's file on the complaint reveals that Mahash conducted its investigation in a negligent manner and made no attempt to research thoroughly the events that took place in Beineh in February 2004. Adalah's investigation into Mahash's file revealed that: (i) Only two complainants were asked to give testimonies to Mahash, and only one in fact did so; (ii) Mahash did not ask any of the witnesses identified by Adalah to provide a testimony; (iii) There is no indication that Mahash investigated police officers involved in the event; (iv) There is no documentation that Mahash made any attempt to gain internal police reports for review in its investigation.

Adalah also argued in the appeal that, considering the weighty evidence that crimes and disciplinary offenses had been committed by police officers during their operation in Beineh, Mahash's failure to indict police officers was unreasonable. Adalah added that, if Mahash had had the will to do so, it could have undertaken a much more serious investigation into the events. As a result of this failure, Israeli police officers have not been held accountable for brutalizing Beineh residents, and the culture of impunity within the state's police force remains intact.

The police operation which took place on 25 February 2004 was undertaken to demolish the home of Mr. Yusef Titi. Following the operation, many residents of Beineh, including children, were committed to hospital and treated for injuries sustained by physical attacks from police officers, and for respiratory problems arising from their exposure to tear gas. The complaint submitted by Adalah contained photographs, affidavits from complainants and witnesses, and the medical reports of those injured during the police operation, attesting to the multiple offenses committed by the police.

In February 2005, Mahash decided to close the file against the police officers involved in the operation due to "lack of public interest". Despite acting as the legal representative of the complainants, Attorney Baker received no correspondence from Mahash on this matter. Moreover, only three of the ten complainants received a letter from Mahash informing them that Mahash had closed its file on their complaint. After closing the file on the police, Mahash sent the file to the police station in Akka (Acre), before any of the complainants were offered the opportunity to review its contents.

Mahash's decision to close the file on police officers involved in the Beineh operation contrasts unfavorably with the recommendations of the Or Commission of Inquiry. These recommendations, released in September 2003, noted, "the need for a reform of police systems with regard to the Arab sector. The police is not conceived as a service provider by the Arab population, but as a hostile element, serving a hostile government ... It is important to work to uproot prejudice, which exists even among officers who are experienced and admired. The police must learn to realize that the Arab sector in Israel is not the enemy and must not be treated as such."

In the appeal, Adalah emphasized that where a decision is made by Mahash to close an investigatory file on the grounds of a "lack of public interest", despite suspicions that crimes have been committed by members of the police force, reasonable and detailed explanations should be provided to justify the decision. The rule of law and justice itself demand that the suspicions are thoroughly examined and that an exhaustive investigation is undertaken in such circumstances.