Rights Group petitions to High Court against law handing police ‘predatory enforcement tools’

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel is petitioning the High Court to repeal a law curbing suspects’ freedom of movement and expression while they are under investigation, the organization announced yesterday.

Spearheaded by Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel, the law took effect in December as a two-year temporary measure to expand law enforcement’s power amid surging organized crime, particularly in Arab communities.

The petition claims that the legislation infringes on due process rights by allowing cops “predatory enforcement tools” that had previously only been used to combat national security and terror-related threats.

The organization adds that the legislation’s focus on crime in Arab society stands to deepen inequality between Jewish and Arab citizens by creating a separate method of enforcement for the latter group.

Under the new law, district court judges can grant restraining orders to police that allow them to limit a suspect’s time outside their home, prohibit them from traveling to certain locations or communicating with certain people, stop them from driving and traveling abroad, and more.

Police are also permitted to search the residences, vehicles and computers of those subject to such an order, and even physically search their person.

These restraining orders may be granted to law enforcement based on secret evidence, inaccessible to the suspect in an ongoing case.

The human rights group’s petition argues that the law is unconstitutional and “disproportionately harms human dignity and freedom” by creating a “bypass route to the criminal process, in which the balances and protections for suspects’ rights are not upheld.”