CPTnet
12 August 2006
HEBRON: CPTers monitoring home invasion detained for five hours
CPTers Dianne Roe and John Lynes went through five hours of questioning at
the Kiryat Arba police station on 11 August before Israeli authorities
released them around 11:30 p.m.. The authorities confiscated the CPT video
camera and tapes, promising they would return them unchanged Sunday or
Monday.
Roe gave the following account of the events leading up to the arrest:
"At about 4:00 in the afternoon of Friday, August 11, as I was walking in
the Old City, children alerted me that soldiers had entered a neighborhood
home. I called fellow team member Tracy Hughes for backup and then entered
the home. I met soldiers descending from the top floor as I approached the
family. The father, Fayez Rajabi, welcomed me into their apartment where I
videotaped Fayez's wife and young children scared and crying. The soldiers
had completed a house search and then ordered the family into one room to
stay for one hour. When soldiers reentered the room, I turned the camera
toward them. They asked me to leave, saying they were conducting a military
operation. I asked to see the order. The soldier said he didn't need one.
He asked me not to videotape. I reiterated my right to film, but agreed to
turn off the camera, telling him that I would turn it on again and film him
if he was doing anything that would hurt family members.
"He called the police. John Lynes, whom soldiers had initially denied entry,
was eventually allowed in, while I was waiting for the police. Tracy Hughes
arrived and agreed to stay with the family so John could accompany me to the
nearby Ibrahimi police station.
"At the station I showed the video footage to the head officer to his
apparent satisfaction until he received a phone call. After the phone call
he said, 'Give me the camera,' and he tried to take it from me with force.
When I did not surrender the camera, the police transferred us to Kiryat
Arba police station. The investigator and the soldier making the complaint
viewed the video footage.
"The investigator read me the soldier's complaint, that stated that I had
refused to leave when they asked me to. The investigator told me that I
must leave if a soldier asks me to. I asked him if that was a new
regulation. His response, although vague, seemed to indicate that each
soldier is now the law. He told me I must surrender the tape or he would
have to take it by force. I told him I could call my teammates to make a
duplicate tape in his presence, and then I would give him the original. He
said the head officer had refused that request. My teammate John then
offered to hold the camera so that when the police took it forcibly he would
take the brunt in place of me.
"The investigator was very reluctant to take the camera forcibly, as were
the two assistants he asked to help, but in the end three of them gently
removed the camera from John's neck, and apologized as they accompanied us
to the gate. We thanked the investigator for his concern and fairness."
The investigator indicated to Roe that the head officer may want to question
her further before returning the tapes and camera.
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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
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