On 20.8.2020, ACRI filed a petition on behalf of WAVO - Women Against Violence Organization under the Freedom of Information Law against the Israeli Police, demanding that the police share information regarding the fate of criminal investigations in cases of the murder of Arab women and girls that took place in the years 2008-2018.
The organization requests to receive information on where each case stands, and especially: whether the case is still open, whether it was closed and under what reasoning, whether it was transferred to the State Attorney’s office, and whether an indictment had been served. The police refused this request, stating that the Freedom of Information Law does not rule over the Israeli Police’s intelligence and investigative systems and bodies with investigative authorities. Furthermore, the police refused the request regarding Arab women, stating that the segmentation based on background and religion may lead to “criminally labeling populations.”
In the petition, we argued the requested information is not investigative material, and that sharing it will not affect the investigation or any other purpose for which the legislature had excluded bodies with investigative authority from providing information as requested. We argued that the exclusions listed in law should be interpreted narrowly. As for the matter of “labeling,” we argued that it is an irrelevant and entirely illogical statement, based on unsubstantiated speculations, and that it is simply pretext used to hide from the public the failure of the police to handle the painful phenomenon of the murder of Arab women, and to prevent public surveillance, supervision and enforcement of police activity.
For further information (Hebrew)