The Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday ordered the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to immediately allow a reservist charged with security offenses to put on tefillin after he again claimed during a court hearing that his rights had been violated while in custody.

The court also instructed the IPS to examine his claims—including that he had been denied food for 36 hours—and submit a response within seven days.

Judge Oded Maor noted that this was not the first time the detainee had raised complaints about his treatment by the IPS. He said that on a previous occasion the court had already requested the prison service’s response, and the IPS stated that it had no record of any complaints from the defendant. However, the judge stressed that the repeated allegations warranted further examination.

He emphasized that the court was not determining at this stage whether the claims were true, but added that “they cannot be ignored.”

Addressing the allegation that the detainee had gone 36 hours without food, the judge wrote, “This is a claim that should not be heard from a detainee—or from anyone.”

He stressed that the authorities are obligated to treat detainees humanely and safeguard their dignity and physical well-being, noting that detention does not strip a person of fundamental rights.

“Detention is not punishment,” the judge wrote, adding that detention conditions cannot be used as a means of punishment, humiliation, or violence.

The judge ordered the IPS to allow the detainee to put on tefillin before shekiah that same day after he claimed he had been prevented from doing so, and further instructed prison officials to ensure he is able to do so on a daily basis. The court also ordered that he be allowed to speak by telephone with his attorney.

The defendant, whose identity remains under a gag order, served in both regular and reserve duty in a classified military unit. He has been indicted on charges of contact with a foreign agent and attempted transmission of information for the benefit of the enemy.

According to the indictment, an investigation conducted by the Lahav 433 Arzim Unit, the Defense Ministry’s security directorate, and the Shin Bet found that he had been in contact with an individual who identified himself as an Iranian intelligence operative. He was later allegedly asked to help recruit another soldier to establish contact with the same operatives.

His attorney, Nati Rom, has argued that the case amounts to “an isolated incident involving, at most, a lack of caution,” and said his client, who devoted his life to Israel’s security, “is being held as though he were a Nukhba terrorist.”

Rom also argued that there is no allegation that his client acted with malicious intent or sought to harm Israel’s security.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)