Remand extended for two minors suspected of arson
Police alleges teens started fire in forest in north on Sunday; Haifa court extends custody after police appeal lower court’s decision
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A prosecutor’s statement was filed on Thursday against two minors, on suspicion that they started a fire in the Ahihud Forest in northern Israel on Sunday, police said Friday.
During a hearing at the Acre Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, the judge decided to release the two teens from custody. The police filed an appeal at the Haifa District Court, and the higher court overruled the Acre court’s decision.
The judge at Haifa District Court wrote in her decision that, “the suspects may be dangerous and their remand will therefore be extended until December 4, 2016 at 12 p.m.”
Police have made more than a dozen arrests over the past week and the week before, detaining alleged arsonists during a week in which fires raged across the country.
According to a tweet by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, police suspect that approximately half of 39 major fires — fires in which property was damaged — were caused by arson.
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “every fire caused by arson, or by incitement to arson, is terrorism.”
Speaking to reporters in Haifa, the city that sustained the worst damage in the fires, the prime minister said: “Anyone who tries to burn parts of the State of Israel will be punished severely.”
Judah Ari Gross and Gavin Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.