On January 19, 2025, ACRI sent comments to the Ministry of Justice regarding the Weapons Offenses Enhanced Enforcement and Temporary Order Bill, 2024, which seeks to address challenges in enforcing weapons offenses, against the background of increased armament and use of weapons by criminals and crime organizations. In the comments, Attorney Nitsan Ilani addressed two amendments that are particularly problematic.
The more questionable amendment seeks to establish a one-year temporary order that creates a presumption whereby an object appearing to be a weapon in a photograph or video constitutes a weapon unless proven otherwise. Thus, a person photographed with an object that looks like a weapon could be convicted of a serious offense punishable by seven years imprisonment, without the prosecution having to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the object in the photograph is indeed a weapon. We argued that the temporary order is inconsistent with fundamental principles of criminal law; that it disproportionately violates a person's liberty and dignity, the right to a fair trial, the right to defend oneself and the presumption of innocence; and that it will inevitably lead to wrongful convictions.
The second amendment that we noted refers to a section in the Evidence Ordinance, which states that a spouse, parent, and child of a defendant are not competent to testify against them in criminal proceedings. The amendment seeks to exempt weapons offenses. We argued that this would unnecessarily harm the integrity of the family unit.
Additionally, we noted that all the proposed amendments raise serious concerns that the law will be enforced unequally and selectively, resulting in over-enforcement against Arab society. We also emphasized our opposition to the increasing use of temporary orders that have effectively created a separate enforcement system for Arab society. We maintain that the proper way to combat crime and criminal organizations in the State in general, and in Arab society in particular, is not by deviating from fundamental principles of criminal law and the protection of human rights, and in our comments we noted that the rise in civilian armament has largely been enabled as a result of the National Security Minister's armament policy, which floods the streets with licensed weapons that also trickle to criminal organizations.
ACRI Comments, January 19, 2025