Update about the arrests of the Eritrean pro-democracy protests

This morning, the public defender lawyers received an instruction to transfer the 46 Eritreans who were detained on Saturday during the riots in South Tel Aviv, to the Immigration authority for the purpose of unlimited administrative detention. 14 of the detainees are represented by Adv. Ayre Sharabi who declared in court that he is appointed by the Eritrean embassy to represent the regime supporters. The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants will offer its services to the other detainees and demand that in cases where there is no evidence of any crime on their behalf, they will be released from Administrative detention. The Israeli law does not allow indefinite administrative detention under the present Entry to Israel law. Courts said again and again that when there is no effective possibility for deportation, there is no legal ground for detention. Just yesterday, Justice Yael Vilner said in a Supreme Court Hearing regarding the criminal detention proceeding of several of these detainees that “One cannot detain a person even for two hours without any grounds”. Vilner added: “The only thing is their presence at the demonstration. With all due respect, this is not a ground for detention”. The police did not provide any evidence of any additional crime.  

The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants’ comment:

“The transfer of the protest detainees to administrative immigration detention without trial is a neglect and a disgrace on the part of the IsraeliPolice. Instead of exhausting the criminal law and prosecuting the violent rioters – the police admit failure and request to transfer detainees against whom there is no evidence to administrative detention, where no proof that they broke the law will be required.

This is a direct continuation of the negligence policy that Israel has been maintaining for over a decade towards asylum seekers from Eritrea: the police disregarded multiple warnings of the community and religious leaders before the event, and now they give up any attempt to enforce the criminal law and transfer detainees against whom there is no evidence to administrative detention without trial. The Eritrean asylum-seeker community remains terrified and frightened by the threat of the long arm of the dictatorial regime, and the Israeli police have failed in their basic protection.”

Sigal Rozen

Public Policy Coordinator

Hotline for Refugees and Migrants

Tel: +972-54-8177845