Ofer - Remand Extension, Minors
Translation: Diana Rubanenko
Morning and afternoon
It was a packed day. We attended hearings of adult detainees
, of minors, and we spoke with relatives. As always, there's great difficulty in setting our feelings down in writing.
There was a panel of three judges in the minors' hearings, reflecting the gravity of the charges.
A request for remand extension was held in the courtroom of Justice Lt. Col. Shmuel Keidar, which was a rather complex proceeding.
The defendant: Muhammad Fawwzi Muhammad Khatib - ID 945578193
Defense: Fadi Qawasmeh
There were 12 charges. If I understand correctly, all of them were related to the chare of membership in an unlawful organisation. Muhammad Khatib was convicted and imprisoned in 2008.
Attorney Qawasmeh attempted to describe the difficulty of proof regarding membership: 'The defendant says the following: 'A man called Adnan Shuman approached me, and suggested that if the Kutla" [al-Islamiya - the Student Union of Hamas] could resume activity in the university, then I would be responsible for one of the university's branches', and the defendant agreed to it. He added: "But the Kutla didn't resume activity, and I graduated but didn't do anything".
In other words, the attorney says, there was a conversation about the future, not about the present. There was a proposal and consent. After all, if any offence should be attributed to the defendant, it should be the offence of conspiracy regarding membership. In fact, beyond the proposal and the consent, nothing happened.
We know that the whole question of membership in an unlawful association is very circuitous, and indeed Mohammad Khatib is charged with participating in two parades! That is the only thing he did in this regard since 2009.
The attorney worked very hard and presented four rulings by the military court. Ultimately, the judge decided on a four-day extension of remand, after which he would give his decision on the prosecution's request for detention until the end of proceedings.
The defendant Adnan Mohammed Eid Izzat Zaro was meant to be represented by Adovcate Saleh Mahamid, but he was not present.
The defendant stated that he had replaced his attorney because he did not appear for hearings, and agreed that Advocate Ashraf Abu Sneina would represent him. The detainee stated that the indictment was read to him, and thus the trial began (the charges against him were not given).
The judge ordered that the defendant's remand be extended until the end of proceedings.
The case will be heard on 28.9.14.
There was also a hearing that concerned a person staying illegally in Israel, who really 'got off cheap'. He entered without a permit on 11.8.14, and his penalty included ten days in jail, a fine of NIS 2000or a month and a half in prison, and another month suspended sentence - and all this because he will be getting married.
In the courtyard I talked with the brother of Ahmed Yassin Shabawi, 29, from Silwwad, who has been in prison for 19 months; the brother said that Ahmed was arrested for what he posted on Facebook.
We spoke at length with someone from Anata who had come to his son's hearing. It transpired that until 1948 the family lived in Katamon, a neighbourhood in Jerusalem. He remembers exactly where his father built his house, and after 67 they went to visit. Of course, now they can not visit West Jerusalem.