TEL AVIV - An Israeli rights group on Wednesday urged prosecutors to reverse a decision not to press criminal charges against policemen filmed hitting Palestinian detainees because the blows were only "light."
"This is a strange and shocking decision," Michael Sfard, an attorney for the Yesh Din (There is Justice) rights group, said in a statement.
"The assertion that beating a detainee is not a criminal act is even worse than the beating itself and constitutes a wrong and dangerous 'wink of consent'," he said, urging prosecutors to reverse their decision.
The incident dates to August 2008, when the rights group received several mobile phone videos, one of which shows a Palestinian youth punched in the stomach by a border policeman in full gear while another detainee is lightly slapped in the nape of the neck and kicked.
Another video shows a border policeman making a Palestinian youth repeatedly salute him until he is satisfied with the greeting's execution, before letting the young man go.
The police internal investigations department said in January that it would not open criminal charges against the policemen involved and Yesh Din appealed the decision to the state prosecutor's office.
In a letter dated October 11, Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan said that he agreed with the decision not to press criminal charges and was instead recommending that the police disciplinary board take up the case.
"Examining the videos and evidence did in fact reveal that indeed this is inappropriate behaviour," Nitzan said in the letter, a copy of which was provided by the rights group. "Nevertheless these are very light blows that caused no real damage."
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