JERUSALEM, November 30, 2015
(WAFA) – The Jerusalem District court Monday suspended the conviction of the
main suspect in the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir, who was
burnt to death by three extremist Israelis on July 2014.
However, the court convicted the
other two Israeli minors who were involved and partook in the murder of Abu Khdeir.
The court suspended the conviction
of Yosef Haim Ben-David, due to a last-minute psychiatric evaluation which
claimed he was not responsible for his actions at the time of the murder.
However, the court said
that there is enough evidence to convict Ben-David, Israeli media sources
said. The judges ordered the psychiatric evaluation, which was written in
English by an Israeli psychiatrist, to be translated to Hebrew on
Monday.
The two convicted minors are
expected to be sentenced on February 14.
Hussein Abu Khdeir, Mohammed's
father, said after the reading of the verdict that Ben-David was trying to
mislead the court. 'It's all a lie. I'm afraid that the court will
eventually get them off the hook,' he said. 'I want [to see]
justice in the court. Where's justice? The judges mustn't accept this.'
Abu Khdeir, 16, was kidnapped
by the three fanatics in the early hours of July 2, 2014 from the Jerusalem
Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, close to his home. He was driven to a wood
outside West Jerusalem, where he was beaten and burned alive by his
kidnappers. The state has officially recognized him as a victim of
terror.
Abu Khdeir's parents attended
every court session and expressed regular dissatisfaction with the lengthy
delays in the legal process.
'Why haven't they
demolished the homes of these three murderers?' Hussein Abu Khdeir, the
youth's father, asked reporters at the last session. 'If they were Arabs,
their homes would have been demolished immediately. Because they burned my son
alive, people today are stabbing.'
To be noted, Israel resorts to
punitively demolish the family homes of any Palestinians – as means of
deterrence - accused of being involved in attacks against Israelis, a policy
that Israel does not use against Israeli settlers who were involved in fatal
attacks against Palestinians.
In the meantime, Amnesty International, argued that, The Israeli authorities’ claim that such demolitions are effective in dissuading potential attackers is entirely irrelevant in the eyes of International humanitarian law, which places clear limits on the actions which an occupying power may take in the name of security, and the absolute prohibition on collective punishment is one of the most important of these rules.
Fatah faction expressed its strong condemnation of suspending the conviction of the main suspect in the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir by the Jerusalem District court and considered this decision to be complicit in the crime of burning a Palestinian child while he was alive.
In a statement Monday, the movement said “We do not trust Israeli courts because their provisions are void, however, we are keen to inform the world that Israeli criminals who commit racially-motivated crimes against Palestinians are legally covered by the highest institutions and courts.”
Fatah called on international human rights organizations to investigate and observe the Israeli judicial system to reveal its role in sponsoring racially motivated crimes and terrorists.
M.N./T.R/D.J/M.H
