The UK Foreign Office says it has raised the detention of a British national in the occupied West Bank with Israeli authorities.
Finn Joughin, a 22-year-old student activist, was arrested in Umm Al-Kheir on Saturday after he was forcibly detained by Israeli settlers who had advanced on the Palestinian village.
There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
All settlements are illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, although they are often supported by state services and funding.
The confrontation on Saturday took place in a town near Hebron that has been recently surrounded by settlers.
According to other activists who witnessed what happened, Palestinian children were playing football when children from settler families started intervening. They then ran to a house and started to dismantle a fence.
Footage posted online by both settlers and activists and seen by the BBC appears to show Joughin standing by the fence and trying to protect it using his body as a child pushes against him.
Settlers removed Joughin forcefully and took the London-based student to an outpost.
Israeli police said a foreign national “who disrupted public order” was detained by security personnel of a settler community who suspected him of an indecent act against a minor and other offences.
In a statement on Sunday, police said the suspect was transferred to their custody for questioning before documents relating to the case were sent to the Population and Immigration Authority for review.
“This was carried out as part of ongoing cooperation and efforts to prevent provocative activity involving confrontations and disturbances,” police said.
A lawyer for Joughin said: “We absolutely deny all the allegations.”
Inbar Shaked Vardi told the BBC that the student was initially accused of assault.
But Shaked Vardi said police later added to the paperwork an allegation of an indecent act.
Joughin is being deported back to the UK on a flight scheduled for Monday afternoon, according to his lawyer.
“So far they have not decided officially on closing the case,” Shaked Vardi said.
Joughin is the only one being investigated and as he is being deported, “it’s safe to assume they won’t continue to pursue charges against him”, she said.
“Police use deportation in order to get what they want – which is to get activists outside of the West Bank while continuing to allow settlers to do what they do”, she added.
Activists who were with Joughin at the time deny there was any inappropriate behaviour.
“In every single instance, it was the settler kids who approached Finn,” fellow activist Matthew, who declined to give his surname, told the BBC.
