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Police Accused of Using Threats to Get Confessions from Suspects

January 27, 1981
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— The lawyer for the three sons of Druze Knesset member Jaber Muadi accused the police today of using threats and intimidation to extract admissions of guilt from his clients in the Jan. 12 murder of Bedouin Sheik Hamad Abu Rabia. The Muadi brothers, said by police to be the prime suspects, were arrested shortly after the killing which paved the way for their father to assume the Knesset seat held by Abu Rabia.

In a letter to Police Inspector General Arye Ivtzan, defense attorney Shlomo Tussia-Cohen said the “unacceptable methods” employed by police interrogators included denying the accused access to a lawyer for more than a week after their arrest. He said the confession by Seif Muadi claiming full responsibility for the crime was obtained under duress, pressure and insults, Muadi was accused by his questioners of assisting terrorists and Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat, Tussia-Cohen said.

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