Thursday, January 5, 2012

Trial of West Bank Civil Protester to Resume Sunday

RAMALLAH, January 5, 2012 (WAFA) – The trial of Bassem Tamimi, a resident of Nabi Saleh village, near Ramallah, and a known civil protester will resume Sunday, according to local activists.

In the trial, Ofer military court near Ramallah will hear the testimony of an Israeli police inspector who took part in the interrogation of a Palestinian minor in order to incriminate Tamimi, arrested in March, said the sources.

Inspector Jalal Aweida was one of the key interrogators of 14 year-old Islam Dar Ayyoub who claimed that Tamimi organized groups of youth into 'brigades' assigned with different responsibilities during the demonstrations including stone-throwing and blocking roads.

Activists said Dar Ayyoub was interrogated under duress the morning of his arrest after he was denied sleep and that he was denied legal counsel or presence of a parent during the questioning.

They said Aweida used threatening and sexual gestures to intimidate the minor, who burst into tears halfway through the interrogation and had almost collapsed.

The Israeli authorities are trying to use the testimony of Dar Ayyoub in order to incriminate Tamimi, a father of four and an activist in the civil protest movements in the West Bank against Israeli takeover of Palestinian land to build settlements and a wall on village lands.

Nabi Saleh started the protest movement two years ago when Israeli settlements in the area attempted to expand their borders to incorporate more of the village land and to take over water springs vital for the survival of the village residents.

Tamimi was arrested 11 times by the Israeli army since the early 1990s, but was never convicted of any charge. Rather, he was held in administrative detention for around three years.
Palestine News & Info Agency - WAFA

No comments:

Post a Comment