JEWISH GIRL IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AFTER RABBINICAL COURT ORDERS IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
www.israeljustice.com/news2.asp?key=111
Date added: 3/15/2008

JERUSALEM -- In what was deemed an unprecedented move, an 18 year-old
Jewish girl was sent to a rabbinical court in an attempt to convince her to
cooperate with the secular Israeli judiciary in a criminal case.
Tzvia Sariel was taken to a hearing before a Jerusalem Rabbinical Court
which declared her to be innocent of charges of assaulting an Arab and
ordered her to be immediately freed. At that point, however, prison guards
spirited Tzvia to a waiting van and she was returned to prison to continue
her fourth month in jail.
"This was totally unexpected," Rabbi Chaim Richmond, one of four
rabbinical judges said. "In our presence, the prison warden made a call and
they were expected to take Tzvia back to a civil court to be released."
The hearing on March 14 was marked by uncertainty over legal procedure.
Attorneys did not understand what role was given to the rabbinical court in
a criminal case and whether the rabbis were granted any authority over the
civil court judge who approved the procedure. Rabbinical courts are
authorized to hear cases that concern marriage and divorce.
"There is a question of authorities," Shmuel Meidad, head of the Honeinu
legal aid organization said.
Tzvia has been in prison for over three months on charges of assaulting
Arabs brought by the army to the Jewish community of Elon Moreh in December
2007.
In a hearing on March 5, Tzvia was sent to jail for another month
despite the chief prosecution witnesses testifying that she had not
participated in any assault and requesting to withdraw their complaints
against her.
Human rights activists assess that Tzvia remains in prison solely
because she refuses to cooperate with authorities. She has refused to
identify herself, retain an attorney or submit a defense.
On March 14, Netanya Magistrates Court Judge Samdar Kolander Abramovitch
issued a decision that allowed prison authorities to bring Tzvia, manacled
in handcuffs and leg irons, to appear before the Rabbinical Court for
Matters of the People and the State, in what was deemed an attempt to have
rabbis influence Tzvia to cooperate with civil authorities.
Instead, the rabbis held a hearing on her case and issued a decision
advocating her immediate release.
"Every day and every hour that Tzvia Sariel spends behind bars is a
wrongdoing to this girl," Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the court, said
"Justice demands to release her immediately. It is a serious stain on the
judiciary system in Israel. According to the Torah law of Israel, we are
demanding her immediate release without conditions and to erase the
indictment."
Honeinu later issued a statement adding that "the rabbinical court did
not limit the refusal to recognize the authority of the civil court and that
it is justified and dependant on the stamina of the young girl and her
ability to withstand all the hardships in prison."
After the decision was announced, the rabbis, wrapped in tallitot or
prayer shawls, immediately stood and recited the special prayers accepting
the justice of the Almighty. Everyone in the courtroom followed in a loud
chant to say the words, "Hear O' Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is
One," despite an attempt by prison guards to prevent supporters, including
Ruth Sariel, Tzvia's mother, from entering the hearing. Flustered, Prison
Warden Hila Boris left to call authorities, she later said, to ask
authorities about Tzvia's release.
"I've never seen anything like this in my whole life," one of the
accompanying prison guards said.
In the ensuing chaos, Boris removed Tzvia's leg irons and said that she
was ordered to take her back to Ramle, the city where the Neve Tirza womens'
prison is located. After a copy of the rabbinical's courts decision was
faxed to prison authorities, attorney Hillel Weiss attained a verbal
confirmation that Tzvia would be taken directly to the Ramle Magistrates
Court where she would be summarily released before the Sabbath.
"I've been ordered to take her back to Ramle but she'll be home before
Shabbat," Boris said.
Instead, she was returned to solitary confinement, the fourth time she
has been harshly punished during her incarceration, and was not allowed to
call home.
"She's back in solitary because we haven't heard from her," Ruth Sariel
said. "The redemption does not come immediately."