Update: Following ACRI’s intervention, the gag order was lifted in part on April 8. See the response from the Attorney-General’s office in Hebrew.
JERUSALEM – April 7, 2010 – In an intervention sent yesterday (April 6), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) urged Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to instruct the State Attorney to request that the Court rescind its extended gag order on a case known in Israel as “the security case”.
The case, which has been discussed widely abroad and on the Internet but has been subject to strict censorship in Israel, involves the house arrest and impending trial of a defendant.
ACRI condemns the months-long publication ban imposed on the case, which denies the public its basic right to information on trials and events taking place in its midst.
“It’s unclear to us what aim the ban serves,” wrote ACRI’s Chief Legal Counsel, Dan Yakir, in the intervention. “Whatever the rationale for the order, in light of the widespread publicity on the subject in Israel and abroad, it seems its only purpose is to violate Israelis’ right to information, hinder freedom of the press, and stymie public debate on the case.”
As such, ACRI calls for the immediate removal of the publication ban on the “security case” so that the public can be aware of its implications.
“Free public debate is one of the mainstays of a democratic regime,” said Lila Margalit, ACRI’s Attorney on Criminal Justice. “Moreover, public trials are a guarantee against despotism, preventing the use of the criminal process for political aims and ensuring that the State’s motives and reasoning in trying individuals are transparent.”
