![Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/255982 "Crime scene [illustrative]")
Tel Aviv district court judge Ala Masarwa, ordered the release to house arrest of two young men from east Jerusalem, Abd al-Rahman Halasi and Majd As'ad, who were arrested last weekend on suspicion of gang raping a foreign national.
According to the young woman's complaint filed with the police, she met the suspects at a club in the city, and following the outing, one of them, whom she had known for about six months, offered to drive her home along with his friend.
Instead of bringing her home, the two took her by force to a hotel and raped her.
She further added that the suspects put a substance in her drink, causing her to lose consciousness. After the incident, in the early morning hours, they left her at an intersection.
The court extended their detention by three days, and defense attorney Shosh Hayoun filed an appeal against the decision to the district court, where she claimed that the court extended the detention because reasonable suspicion still existed and the DNA results still remained to be received.
"So what? Is DNA going to arrive on Yom Kippur? Why is there a lack of respect for decisions? The DNA version doesn't align with common sense. There are so many actions that took place on the way to that hotel. She got into the car with them; they all entered the vehicle together. The sequence of events as she describes it doesn’t add up, and in the middle of the city, no one saw her being dragged."
"The court today did not change the situation at all, so I believe that just as there was a decision to release them on October 8, they should be released today as well. There is no reason to extend their detention," said attorney Hayoun.
Judge's decision
The judge who ordered the release of the two to house arrest for six days, wrote in his decision: "The failure to investigate the appellants is, in my opinion, a significant oversight, as it has the potential to define and outline the area of dispute between the parties, and based on this area, the essential investigative actions required will be derived.
"For some reason, this has not been carried out at this stage. The investigation in the case is stagnating for reasons unrelated to the investigating unit, and therefore I believe that the appellants should be ordered released, with an alternative to detention that will ensure the purpose of the detention."