Last update - 00:00 10/12/2006
Lawyers slam police conduct in capture of rapist Benny Sela
By Yuval Yoaz and Jonatahn Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
A group of lawyers on Sunday morning appealed the Ministry of Justice to secure rapist Benny Sela's rights be fully maintained, threatening to petition the High Court of Justice if he was not brought before a judge.
According to the group headed by attorney Reuven Kohn, since his Friday arrest Benny Sela has not yet been brought before a judge despite a law requiring a court hearing be held within 24-hours.
Criticism of the police's handling of the arrest was raised after journalists were allowed to take photos of a distressed Sela being held up by a number of police officers a few hours after was captured at a roadblock near the northern town of Naharyiah.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi called for four sub-committees to be formed to investigate the Yaron Committee findings which probed the circumstances of Sela's escape.
The external committee implicated 13 police officers and prison service employees, but for legal reasons did not publish recommended penalties.
Earlier on Sunday, it remained unclear on Sunday who would be awarded the NIS 100,000 bounty offered for information leading to Sela's capture.
During most of Sela's two weeks at large, the search had focused on Tel Aviv and the nearby Sharon area. But on Thursday, police received an intelligence tip that the rapist was hiding up north, and Friday morning, the first citizen sighting of Sela in the north, near Lake Kinneret, was reported.
Baruch Mazor, dirctor of a foundation that offered the reward, told Army Radio Sunday that dozens of people have come forward to request the reward. "We don't yet know who [the recipient] will be. We will be consulting with the police and will try to find the people to reward