The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court on Monday ordered that the restrictions placed on Said Abu Sa’ad, a man from Segev Shalom detained on suspicion of involvement in buying votes for Ra’am, be removed.
Judge Eran Tzabari accepted defense lawyer Sara Haviv's request to lift the restrictions. Abu Sa’ad was one of four suspects arrested on Thursday and subsequently released to house arrest.
Seven suspects have been arrested in the case in total - three on Election Day, Tuesday, and four on Thursday. Police reported finding envelopes containing cash and Ra’am ballot slips during searches, raising suspicions that the money was intended to pay for votes.
On Sunday, the court released one of the first three suspects, Dr. Sayaf Abu Riash, without restrictions and ordered another released to house arrest. For the third, Hussein Masoudin, police requested eight more days in custody, but the court granted two, until Tuesday.
Police appealed the decision to release Ibrahim al-Garibi to house arrest, with a further hearing scheduled for Monday.
Police failed to explain why suspect needed to remain under house arrest
Tzabari’s criticism during Abu Riash’s hearing was sharp: “The state of the investigation is exactly the same,” he said. Police had failed to explain why the doctor needed to remain under house arrest or be barred from using the internet, he said.
Abu Riash’s lawyer, Ali Abu Laban, told Army Radio that no money had been found at his client’s home and that he was not employed by Ra’am. He had been encouraging turnout among Bedouin voters, the lawyer said.
The four suspects arrested on Thursday included school principals. They were released to house arrest that day.
The arrests became part of a broader political dispute over the election’s legitimacy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the initial arrests on Election Day to allege an attempt to steal the election. Defense lawyers have disputed the bribery suspicions, saying money seized in the case was intended for charitable assistance.
Netanyahu's office reportedly prompted police investigation
According to reports, information prompting the initial police operation had come from Netanyahu’s office, and searches were conducted without warrants. Defense lawyers challenged the searches, while a police investigator maintained in court that recently received information allowed officers to proceed without a warrant.
The police case is distinct from the investigation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) into suspected foreign funding intended to influence the election. No connection between the two investigations has been publicly established.
On Sunday, Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg said that even if the foreign-interference suspicions were substantiated, they would not undermine the integrity of the election process or its results as a whole.
Speaking alongside Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet Director David Zini, Sohlberg said the suspicions would be investigated fully and warned against casting aspersions on Arab citizens’ voting.
Likud challenged his assurance, arguing that it was premature to rule out an effect on the results before the investigation was complete.