Because the site for the planned museum is surrounded by a fence unusually high for construction sites in Israel, Yahni climbed to the roof of a nearby building under construction in order to film work in the cemetery. As he filmed, Israeli police suddenly appeared and arrested him on the spot, taking him to the Russian Compound police station in Jerusalem.
Yahni was originally accused of trespassing in the building under construction. No sign was posted at the construction site, warning against trespassing and no verbal warnings were given to Yahni that it was illegal to climb on the roof of the building. However, following interrogation, the police confiscated Yahni’s film showing the destruction of the Ma’man cemetery and only through the intervention of Attorney Lea Tsemel did the police agree to return his video camera, a primary working tool of the AIC. The Israeli General Security Services (GSS) were also notified of Yahni’s filming.
“The Israeli authorities have proven their determination in preventing local and international publics from learning more about the destruction of the Ma’man Allah Islamic Cemetery,” notes Connie Hackbarth, Executive Director of the AIC. “Sergio was clearly detained for his work to expose this additional attempt by Israel, in this case together with those claiming to promote tolerance, to erase Muslim and Palestinian history in Jerusalem.”
The police are legally allowed to retain the film of the Alternative Information Center for 120 days.
The historic Ma’man Allah Islamic Cemetery, which contains the graves of numerous Muslim leaders, was founded in the 13th century and is regarded as sacred. In 2004, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles based Jewish organization (“focusing on racism in America and the history of the Holocaust ”) started to plan the construction of a US$250 million Museum of Tolerance, on top of the Islamic Cemetery. The construction was put on hold in 2006 because of legal proceedings against the destruction of the Ma’man Cemetery but on 29 October 2008, the Israeli High Court gave the final “green light” for the creation of the Museum of Tolerance, and the construction recommenced.
