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ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-COURT
House arrest confirmed for Israeli over Palestinian deaths
JERUSALEM, July 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday
rejected an appeal against house arrest for an Israeli suspect in a 2015
firebombing that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents, his lawyers
said.
On Thursday, an Israeli district court ordered the suspect, a minor at the
time of the arson, released from prison to house arrest after throwing out
parts of his confession.
His release was delayed until Sunday to allow prosecutors to appeal but a
statement from right-wing legal aid organisation Honenu, which is
representing the suspect, said the appeal had been rejected.
The ruling was the latest sign that the prosecution’s case against the
suspect, who was 17 at the time of the firebombing, may be faltering.
The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, is accused of being an
accessory to racially motivated murder and is being tried as a minor.
He and the main suspect, Amiram Ben-Uliel, were charged in January 2016.
Ben-Uliel was charged — when he was 21 — with three counts of murder and
one of attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime.
Last month, the district court threw out parts of the confessions of both
the minor and Ben-Uliel, who is from the northern West Bank settlement of
Shilo. The court ruled that the confessions it had thrown out were obtained
through physical coercion that defence lawyers describe as torture.
Other confessions made by both of them however remain part of the case.
Eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabsha was burnt to death when the family home in
the village of Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was firebombed.
His parents later died of their injuries. His brother Ahmed, four at the
time of the attack, was the sole survivor from the immediate family but was
left with severe burns.
Israeli security services came under heavy pressure to catch and try those
responsible.
Court documents made publicly available have not elaborated on the
techniques used by investigators when obtaining their confessions.
Israeli daily Haaretz said they would typically have included “painful
physical means such as binding hands and feet… or prolonged uncomfortable
kneeling.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1604 hrs