Ofer - Stone Throwing, Remand Extension
Translation: Marganit W.
Morning and Afternoon sessions
The trial of Bassam Tamimi is rescheduled for 15.5.11
After the break, appeals of two Nabi Salah detainees
were heard, presented by Atty. Limor Goldstein:
Fadel Tamim Hassan Tamimi and Mahmud Wajia Mahmud Tamimi.
Justice Major Benishu’s decisions have not been handed down yet.
A 15-year old from Bil’in, Ayad Hatib (Prosecution Case No.1966/11) was arrested last Friday and then brought before Justice Sharon Kenan. The boy’s face bore the marks of beating and his hand was bandaged. The boy said that soldiers had showered him with blows and kicks. The judge stated that the file he was holding did not mention that the boy had resisted arrest, and there was no explanation for the fact that his hand had been bandaged by a medic.
The judge remanded him in custody until Thursday, 12.5.11 and instructed the court to allow him 5 phone calls at the state’s expense to contact his family. Atty. Goldstein requested setting the hearing for Wednesday.
Courtroom 2
Judge: Captain Etty Adar
Prosecutor: Asher Silver
Between 10 am and 1:30 pm two prosecution witnesses were questioned in the evidentiary trial of Adham Muhamad Azmi Ahlil – Case No. 2006/11, a 20 year old resident of Beit Ummar.
His mother is present in court. She tells me that Adham was arrested 2 months ago in a schoolyard, on a charge of throwing rocks. He is represented by Atty. Akram Bargout.
The first witness to testify is one of the incriminators who implicated the accused. He is a 17 year old boy, dressed in prison uniform, his feet shackled (the handcuffs were removed when he was brought in). He sits on a chair, his head bent, staring at the floor,
When I walked in, the prosecutor’s interrogation was in progress. Concluding his testimony, the witness said that Interrogator Fares made him sign a statement whose content was unknown to him.
In cross-examination by the defense, the witness denies everything he said in the police interrogation: he did not throw rocks, he did not see others throwing rocks, he was not asked about 26 (!) other people mentioned in his statement, he does not know the accused, he did not state that his brother is married to the defendant’s sister etc. etc. The witness claims to be illiterate. Regarding questions that do not touch directly on his detention and police interrogation, Adham states clearly: he works around the clock in a garage located below his family’s apartment, where he also sleeps.
The second witness, Amru Shukran Abu Rahman is also a 17 year old from Beit Ummar . He is a high school student and was arrested on 24.2.11 for throwing rocks.
In reply to the prosecutor’s questions he admits having thrown rocks a long time ago, perhaps ten years ago.
The prosecutor declares him a hostile witness. Later in the interrogation he confronts him with a statement he gave to the police (in Arabic), which he signed. The witness’s response: “I did not sign, this is not my signature.” He does not even remember being interrogated by the police. He remembers being arrested by the army, being taken to Etzion [police station] where he was kept for 8 days, “during which I did not see any interrogators or policemen, not even in civilian clothes (GSS) and I was not interrogated.”
His answers to other questions posed by Atty. Bargout in cross-examination were similar: “I don’t know, I don’t remember’ I was not interrogated.”
Declaring him “hostile witness” (following his denial of almost everything in his police statement) serves the prosecution. It is a procedure aimed at undermining the testimony in the eyes of the court, thus strengthening the elements of the statement that help build the case.
A date was set, 16.5.11, for deposing two more witnesses: the investigators who took the statement.
Courtroom 5
Judge: Major Sharon Kenan
Prosecutor: Lieutenant Avishai Kaplan.
Allam Yousuf Bader Saakik – Case No. 2359/11, 16 years old from Beit Ummar. He is held in custody until the conclusion of the proceedings.
Allam is accused of throwing rocks, based on an incriminator who testified that the two threw rocks together about six months ago. Atty. Akram Bargout, who received the case from another lawyer, discovered that the accused had been in jail (for throwing rocks) for 4 months, and hence could not have taken part in another incident on the date specified in the indictment.
Consequently, the prosecution amended the charge, fitting the violation to a date AFTER Allam ‘s release from jail. There is also a suspended sentence against Allam, but it will not go into effect if the present charge cannot be proved.
The defense objected to amending the charge, arguing that even after the change, there is not enough evidence for the present charge, and he demanded his client’s release.
The judge accepted the defense’s argument regarding the insufficient proof and decided on release under the following conditions: 5000 shekels deposit and reporting to court on 16.5.11 in front of Justice Sharon Rivlin-Ahai.
The boy’s mother sat in court (another son is in detention and his hearing is today in another courtroom). The father is old and sick and cannot provide for his family. It is unlikely that the family will be able to pay the sum required for Allam’s release. In addition, the prosecution is appealing the release and the appeal hearing is scheduled for this coming Wednesday.