Ofer - Sentence, Palestinians staying illegally in Israel
Translation: Marganit W.
On 28.5.13 Tamar and I were present at the first hearing of Abed Alrahim Awwad from Budrus.
The prosecution requested a remand extension of 14 days, but the judge agreed to 8 days only.
The next hearing was set for 4.6.13, and we wanted to attend the second session.
When we were admitted into the compound, we went through the halls. We knew that Atty. Nery Ramati was inside because we had seen him at the gate. In one courtroom minors were being tried so we could not attend; in another, we could not follow what the judge was saying, and we could not find Nery. Abd Alrahim Awad’s name was in none of the dockets.
In the end we settled for Justice Bieber’s court, where we attended one hearing from beginning to end.
Judge: Major Hilit Baron Bieber
Prosecutor: Captain Agranash Agnihu
Defense: Atty. Avi Baram
Accused: Rauf Ahmad Sayed Hushiya – ID 854681749
The prosecutor stated that there was a plea bargain: the accused will accept the charges and the sides will plead for an agreed deal upon penalty.
The indictment states that on 24.2.13 (day of arrest) the accused climbed on the security fence and entered Israel (i.e. staying in Israel illegally). Hushiya is 19.5 years old, but he already spent 22 months in jail in 2008 (meaning he was only 14.5 years at the time!). In 2012 he was again convicted for the same violation as the present one and spent a month in prison with 5 months suspended sentence, which is in effect.
The judge accepted the plea bargain and sentenced him to 3 months and a day in prison, starting with the day of arrest; the suspended sentence from the previous case is in effect, so 3 months will be served and two will overlap. In all, he will spend 6 months and a day, plus 6 months suspended sentence, plus 2000-shekel fine or 2 month in jail.
At the end of the day we met Atty. Ramati and asked about Abed Alrahim’s trial.
He explained that on Monday the accused had been brought to the Russian Compound for remand extension without notifying his attorney, and he is still barred from seeing his attorney!
Our colleagues Tova Szyntuch and Roni Hammermann were at the Russian Compound and they reported the case on 3.6.13.