A Palestinian humanitarian worker who was found guilty of making transactions to an extremist organisation – Hamas has been slammed with a 12-year jail term by an Israeli court.
Mohammed Halabi, the director of World Vision’s Gaza branch, was convicted after being found guilty of 13 crimes, including belonging to a terrorist group, in June.
Africa Today News, New York reports that since his arrest in 2016, he has refuted all charges and intends to defend himself from the charges.
The sentencing, according to World Vision, is ‘deeply disappointing’ and ‘in sharp contrast to the evidence and facts’.
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Human Rights Watch denounced what it referred to as ‘profound miscarriage of justice’ and claimed that holding Halabi in custody for an additional six years was ‘cruel and inhumane’.
Israeli prosecutors charged the 44-year-old with transferring millions of dollars in support to Hamas, which Israel and Western nations have clearly marked as a terrorist organization, and also providing them with iron, plastic tubing, and digging equipment so that the group could construct attack tunnels across international borders.
An essential part of the trial against him included a confession he made to a fellow prisoner who was serving as an informant. Halabi said that corporal punishment was used to force the confession. The judges, however, stated that they did not trust him and believed that the confession was likely to have been formulated.
‘He says that he’s innocent, he did nothing and there is no evidence,’ Halabi’s lawyer, Maher Hanna, said after Tuesday’s sentencing. ‘On the contrary, he proved in the court above any reasonable doubt that he made sure that no money will be [given] directly to Hamas.’
Reporters were informed by Moran Guez of the Southern District Attorney’s Office that the court felt the penalty was very thoughtful for the ‘very severe deeds’ and that an objection was being considered.
Discrepancies in the legal system and a dearth of substantial, readily accessible evidence were the two main objections raised by World Vision. Additionally, it was mentioned that neither a private audit nor inquiries by the governments of the donors had turned up any proof of missing money or illegal activity.
‘The arrest, six-year trial, unjust verdict and this sentence are emblematic of actions that hinder humanitarian work in Gaza and the West Bank,’ the Christian charity cautioned on Tuesday.
‘It adds to the chilling impact on World Vision and other aid or development groups working to assist Palestinians.’
According to the Associated Press, Israel’s foreign ministry declared that it would continue to stop “any diversion of humanitarian funds for terrorist purposes.” It further stated that the nation was committed to assisting relief organizations and making their job easier while also taking security into mind.