Last update - 00:00 13/09/2006
Court releases 7 suspects in Shfaram lynch of Jewish gunman
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
The Acre Magistrate's Court on Wednesday released from house arrest seven men suspected in involvement in the lynching of Jewish gunman Eden Natan-Zada in Shfaram last year.
Judge Shoshana Feinsod-Cohen said the suspects, detained in June, would be released since the prosecution had not yet submitted indictment sheets against any of them.
The investigation has been conducted under a gag order.
In August 4, 2005, a mob in the northern town killed Natan-Zada after he shot to death four passengers on board a bus. Police say they have evidence linking the seven suspects directly to his death.
The prosecution said the suspects would be charged with murder, disruption of order and harming police personnel.
Attorney Ahmed Raslan, who represents four of the seven suspects, said "police and the prosecution were wrong in arresting the suspects on the count of murder in the first degree."
"It has been proved that the investigating authority cannot submit the indictments, despite all the declarations made in court that there is sufficient evidence to incriminate the suspects - the police's blunder and its failure to submit the indictments go to show that the suspects are innocent, and they have said so since day one," he said.