Discussion in Knesset: Arbitrary Restriction of Movement of Detainees

On 17 July 2023, the Knesset’s National Security Committee held a debate on a bill titled “Criminal Procedure Law (Powers of Enforcement – Arrests): Stricter Conditions for Release on Bail-2023,” which seeks to significantly tighten the conditions for release on bail that a commanding police officer may impose on detainees. According to the proposed amendment, a commanding police officer will be able to bar entry to a certain geographic area for 90 days (instead of 15 days at present), ban an assembly for 90 days (three times the permitted period at present), confine a person to a specific location for 30 days (instead of 15 days at present), and impose house arrest for 15 days (versus 5 days at present).

Presenting the joint position of Zulat for Equality and Human Rights and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Zulat Executive Director Einat Ovadia said: “The proposed amendment brings to mind administrative detention, a kind of bypass route over which there is no judicial review. We consider the duration of the ban and the violation of freedom of movement and other rights without being brought before a judge unreasonable in non-severe crime cases, not to mention that even severe crime cases must take into account a variety of factors. A 90-day ban doubles a senior/junior police officer’s authority to bar the movement of citizens without bringing them before a judge.

I understand the logic for such a law provision with regards to serious crimes, but I would like to talk about small offenses which we see week in and week out when protesters are arrested. We are worried that this law provision might seriously injure freedom of expression and protest as senior and junior police officers could use it to physically stop a protester from reaching a location. This protester would not be told he could not demonstrate, but that he could not go to a location for 90 days. A clear distinction should be established as to what a serious offense is. Could this prevent a man who has been violent before from getting to his spouse and hurting her? There must be a clear definition so that the injury is minimal in cases of small offens.”

(Translation from Hebrew: Shoshana Michkin)

Watch (Hebrew, no subtitles):

>> Read the full position paper: Stricter Conditions for Release on Bail: Violation of Freedom of Protest

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.