Ofer - Plea Bargain, Stone Throwing
Translation: Marganit W.
Judge: Major Samzar Shagug
Prosecutor: Lieut. Dvir Wise
Defense: Nery Ramati
Abd Al-Nasser Ahmad Hasin Murar - ID 929915106
Abd Al-Nasser is accused of throwing rocks in Feb. 2013. He was released on bail for the sum of 12,000 shekels!! He is 43 years old and works as a photographer for B’tselem.
The two sides have reached an agreement, which the judge accepted. The defendant will serve 15 days in jail, to coincide with the time he has already spent in detention, plus 3 year suspended sentence for 2 years and a 4000-shekel fine.
The defense explains that it was a spontaneous demonstration following an incident where security forces killed 16-year old Samir Ahmad Awad who was on his way home from school after taking a test.
Today was Purim, so the Jews were rejoicing. The court worked with reduced staff, but that did not diminish the heartrending stories I heard from the people there.
Halil Kariya, the diabetic 16-year old from Azariya, has been in jail since August 2013.
I asked his lawyer, Haled Alaraj what was going on, and he said he was still displeased with the prosecution’s offer and the future is unclear.
I spoke with a woman from Qalandiya Refugee Camp whom I had met before. Her son, Bassel Abu-Nasser, 19, has been in jail since 26.7.13. The father has been in jail for 13 years. They are refugees from 1948. The father’s family is from a small village, Ishawa, near Ramla, and the mother’s family is from Artup (today Hartuv). The 36-year old mother tells me that a brother and a cousin of hers are also in jail. Her husband used to work for the Palestinian Authority, so she gets some monetary assistance. She works in a daycare, and her family that lives near Bethlehem helps when possible. Her other son was with her today (a lovely boy). He told me he was preparing for his matriculation exams and he is an A student. He told me confidently that next year he plans to study at Al-Kuds University. He was looking forward to seeing his brother in court and hoped that the defense would reach a plea bargain.