Malka Leifer must be held in police custody, Israeli court rules
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
8 March 2018
Malka Leifer is led into a Jerusalem court last month. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
‘The latest travesty of justice has been averted, at least temporarily,’ child sexual abuse activist says
Israel’s supreme court has ordered that a former Melbourne school principal wanted over 74 charges relating to allegations of indecent assault and rape against her students be kept in police custody.
Victims and their advocates expressed anger on Wednesday when a magistrates court ordered that 54-year-old Malka Leifer could be freed from custody into home detention by the end of the week. Prosecutors have argued she is feigning mental illness and videos from a private investigator show her living an apparently normal, healthy life despite being declared unfit for extradition to Australia.
But after an appeal the supreme court on Thursday ordered Leifer be kept in police custody in a medical facility while it considers moving her to house arrest, despite Leifer’s lawyer, Yehuda Fried, telling the court she was not a flight risk.
“She has nowhere to go,” Fried said. “She is wanted worldwide.”
A previous extradition attempt between 2014 and 2016 failed after Leifer was admitted to mental institutions and expert opinions determined she was not fit to stand trial. Leifer was arrested on 12 February after an undercover investigation at Interpol’s request.
Leifer, a former principal at the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel girls school in Melbourne, left Australia for Israel in 2008 after the allegations were raised. Her alleged victims have been fighting for her return to Australia ever since. She had been living in the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel.
An Australian abuse survivors’ advocate, Manny Waks, who now lives in Israeland runs the abuse prevention organisation Kol v’Oz, said he was pleased Leifer had been prevented by the court from re-entering the community. “The latest travesty of justice has been averted, at least temporarily,” he said.
“The fact that the district court ruled to release Leifer … has justifiably continued to raise questions about the Israeli judicial process. As we’ve repeatedly stated, Leifer belongs in a courtroom or at a medical facility where she can recuperate and ultimately face justice.
“There is simply no alternative – not for her alleged victims and not for the safety and wellbeing of Israeli children today.”
Originally published at The Guardian.
Israel’s supreme court has ordered that a former Melbourne school principal wanted over 74 charges relating to allegations of indecent assault and rape against her students be kept in police custody.
Victims and their advocates expressed anger on Wednesday when a magistrates court ordered that 54-year-old Malka Leifer could be freed from custody into home detention by the end of the week. Prosecutors have argued she is feigning mental illness and videos from a private investigator show her living an apparently normal, healthy life despite being declared unfit for extradition to Australia.
But after an appeal the supreme court on Thursday ordered Leifer be kept in police custody in a medical facility while it considers moving her to house arrest, despite Leifer’s lawyer, Yehuda Fried, telling the court she was not a flight risk.
“She has nowhere to go,” Fried said. “She is wanted worldwide.”
A previous extradition attempt between 2014 and 2016 failed after Leifer was admitted to mental institutions and expert opinions determined she was not fit to stand trial. Leifer was arrested on 12 February after an undercover investigation at Interpol’s request.
Leifer, a former principal at the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel girls school in Melbourne, left Australia for Israel in 2008 after the allegations were raised. Her alleged victims have been fighting for her return to Australia ever since. She had been living in the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel.
An Australian abuse survivors’ advocate, Manny Waks, who now lives in Israeland runs the abuse prevention organisation Kol v’Oz, said he was pleased Leifer had been prevented by the court from re-entering the community. “The latest travesty of justice has been averted, at least temporarily,” he said.
“The fact that the district court ruled to release Leifer … has justifiably continued to raise questions about the Israeli judicial process. As we’ve repeatedly stated, Leifer belongs in a courtroom or at a medical facility where she can recuperate and ultimately face justice.
“There is simply no alternative – not for her alleged victims and not for the safety and wellbeing of Israeli children today.”
Originally published at The Guardian.
