Adalah Center Appeals to Court: Police Seized Palestinian Flag and Citizen's Phone Without Legal Basis

SadaNews - The Adalah Center submitted a request to the court yesterday, Tuesday, to compel the police to return a Palestinian flag and a mobile phone that were seized from a citizen in the Northern Triangle area during an interrogation that took place at a police station in the village of Zulfa in the Wadi Ara area. This was after the police refused to return them despite a previous inquiry made by the center regarding this issue.

According to the details, the police arrested the woman on March 4, 2026, from her home in the city of Harish and took her to the "Iron" police station for interrogation. During a raid on her home, police officers requested that she hand over the Palestinian flag in her possession, claiming that it was allegedly used in the commission of an infraction.

In the submission presented to the court, attorney Hadil Abu Saleh from the Adalah Center confirmed that "the interrogation was based on the woman's posts on Facebook, which do not constitute any legal offense." She clarified that "the arrest and interrogation procedures were characterized by a clear legal flaw."

Abu Saleh stated that her client was arrested without any legal basis, noting that there is no legal violation in possessing or displaying a Palestinian flag, especially since it was inside her home, i.e., in a private space. She also pointed out that initiating an investigation of this nature requires prior approval from the state attorney's office, which did not occur in this case.

The attorney added that her client requested during the interrogation to consult with a lawyer, but the police investigator prevented her from doing so and informed her that she would only be allowed to contact a lawyer from the public defense agency if he deemed it necessary during the course of the investigation.

Abu Saleh also emphasized that the police's continued retention of her client's personal belongings, including the mobile phone and the Palestinian flag, constitutes an undue infringement on her constitutional rights, primarily the rights to property and privacy.