JERUSALEM (JTA) – Right-wing activists and police clashed in Jerusalem during a demonstration against the continued detention of Jewish youth allegedly involved in the deadly firebombing of a Palestinian home.
The demonstration on Sunday night came a day after hundreds of protesters demonstrated in front of the home of Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen over allegations that the security service is torturing the suspects — two minors and a third person whose age is unknown — in order to extract information.
On Sunday, one of the detainees, a West Bank resident who was arrested three weeks ago, reportedly told a judge during a closed hearing at Petach Tikvah Magistrate’s Court that the torture was so bad that he tried to commit suicide in prison.
“Every day it goes up a level … I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t sleep tonight either, unless something changes,” the suspect, a minor, told the judge, according to Haaretz. “They are violently questioning me about something I can’t help them with because I don’t know. They are taking me apart, bending my whole back, laughing and looking at me with contempt. The hell with it, what am I supposed to do?
“They yell at me, ‘Murderer, murderer!’ Where can I run? Where is their doubt that maybe I’m actually right? This is the worst injustice the State of Israel can do to a person.”
The Shin Bet denied the torture allegations and said its investigations “are conducted in accordance with the law.” It said the claim that one of the Jewish detainees attempted suicide is “baseless,” according to Haaretz.
On Sunday, the judge ordered the remand for the teen to be extended.
The same day, the Shin Bet announced that there had been a new “development” in the investigation of the July 31 firebombing in the West Bank Palestinian town of Duma that killed an 18-month-old boy and his parents. Right-wing extremists are believed to have committed the arson attack.
No other details were disclosed by the Israeli media, since a gag order has been placed on the investigation. Indictments are expected to be filed this week, according to reports.
