9 June 2011 To: Attorney Yehuda Weinstein, attorney general, and Attorney Moshe Lador, state prosecutorFax: 02-6467001 and 02-6467006Dear Sirs, The subject: the arrest of Amnesty International member Gideon Spiro – a grave violation of the right to freedom of expression.Amnesty International has the honour of addressing you in order to request the immediate convening of an inquiry into the circumstances under which the decision was made to invite Mr. Gideon Spiro for questioning about an article he had published and on the decision to arrest him upon the conclusion of the questioning. Mr. Gideon Spiro serves as a member of the audit committee of Amnesty International Israel, and he is a well-known veteran journalist and human rights activist. The interrogation of Mr. Spiro about an article he wrote, which to the best of our understanding and command of the Hebrew language constituted no grounds for an accusation of incitement to violence, raises a red flag regarding the set of considerations that guide the judicial authorities in the State of Israel. Moreover, the decision to arrest Mr. Spiro at the end of the interrogation is even more serious. To the best of our understanding, there is no provision in the law that can justify the arrest of Mr. Spiro, who is 76 years old and a respected and law-abiding citizen who presents no danger to the public. There were certainly no grounds to fear that he would compromise the conduct of the investigation or flee justice. The impression that emerges from the decision is that the central status of the right to freedom of expression in a democratic regime is not clearly understood by the investigating authorities in the Israel Police, and that the duty to uphold human rights is unknown to them. The arrest of a man for having expressed an opinion, who is moreover a journalist, is not only an attack on him personally, but is also likely to be understood among human rights activists and journalists as a “warning” that the police in the State of Israel are not obliged to defend their right to struggle for human rights in this country and in the world. In the year 2011 Amnesty International documented attacks on freedom of expression, on journalists and human rights defenders in 89 countries in the world. The arrest of journalists is a practice that is characteristic of shady regimes, and the State of Israel must not make itself resemble them by adopting such practices. In your positions of responsibility for the enforcement of the law in the State of Israel, we urge you to enact measures to ensure that incidents like this one are not repeated and that human rights are appropriately defended in Israel. Faithfully yours, Attorney Rachel BenzimanActing secretary generalAmnesty International Israel