Court frees last suspect in Ra’am vote-buying probe
A judge in Beersheba dismissed police requests for detention, citing a lack of progress and criticizing the handling of the case.
By Andrew Bennett ·
The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court released the final suspect in the Ra’am vote-buying investigation on Wednesday.
The court freed Ibrahim al-Garibi unconditionally. He was the last of three southern Bedouin men detained by police on the morning of the October 27 election. Investigators accused the group of planning to pay voters to support the traditionalist Arab party. The men denied the bribery charges, stating that cash found in their homes was earmarked for charity.
Police initially asked the court to place Garibi under house arrest with a ban on internet use. Judge Eran Tzabari denied the motion. He noted that the investigative unit had made no progress and had not checked the defendant’s claims. Tzabari said there was no sense in keeping the man detained. The court had previously extended Garibi’s custody by two days on Monday to allow police to finish investigative steps. The other two suspects, Saef Abu Reash and Hussein al-Masoudin, were freed on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively. Police did not appeal either release.
Disputes over the evidence emerged during the proceedings. Police said they found envelopes containing tens of thousands of shekels in the suspects’ homes. Abu Reash’s lawyer argued that no money was found in his client’s home and that a total of 12,000 shekels, or about $3,800, was found in the other two homes. Police later acknowledged that they searched the three homes without warrants. Hebrew media reports indicate that the arrests followed a tip from Ido Norden, the chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu claimed in an election day video that the arrests reflected an attempt to steal the election.
The Ra’am case is one of two probes cited by the prime minister and his Likud party to allege the election was stolen. The other investigation concerns suspected foreign funding and influence operations. Police maintain that the two cases are separate, and no public evidence links them. On Wednesday, the Shin Bet told the Central Elections Committee that intelligence in the foreign-interference probe pointed to activity involving thousands of people. The agency said more investigation was needed to establish the scale of the activity but did not present public evidence that the result changed. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara criticized a bid to question four Arab politicians without sufficient evidence, calling it incompatible with the rule of law.
The Central Elections Committee certified the vote results on Wednesday. The committee reviewed protocols from 9,069 polling stations and found no irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or altered the results.
