Military Court at Ofer, AM, Monday, 09.07.2007Observers: Hava H., Tova S. (reporter)Translator for MachsomWatch: Erez L.Number of proceedings for the courtroom: 31Courtroom #4; Morning SessionProceedings began at 10:30 am.In the family waiting area, we met a man and woman who came up to talk to us: the woman has a son who has been in prison for three years. The man who was with her was either her brother or her brother-in-law, and spoke Hebrew well. The mother spoke only Arabic. Today, there was supposed to have been a hearing on an appeal of the sentence, but they got a phone call telling them that the defense attorney (Yossi Schwartz) had not arrived because he was sick. The hearing was cancelled. The mother’s eyes were dripping with tears of bitterness, because the Internal Security Services would not let her enter Israel to visit her son in Be’er Sheva, whom she has not seen for a long time now.The rest of the morning, we met many other women who had the same problem: they are on a “restricted” list of the Internal Security Services, and so are unable to visit their children or their husbands…Courtroom 4. There is the usual commotion of loud defense attorneys running around, bored prison guards, disorganized clerks, parents hungry for news of their children, and sad-looking women. The doors open and close loudly, and through them one detainee after another come and go, none of them sure why they are there. Today, we saw some detainees who came in and left without any proceedings whatsoever. In an hour and a half, we heard multiple proceedings about extension of remand and a discussion of two cases:Isa Abed Alnatser Ahmed Tsibih, 20 years old, from Ein YabrutCharge: membership in and activity with a terrorist group. Defense Attorney Safiya: requested and was granted a stay until 06.08.07.Haled Jamil Mustafa DaduaCharge: membership in and activity with a terrorist group. Defense Attorney: Ahlam Hadad: stay until 13.08.07.Abed Alrahim Mustafa Abed Alrahim SalahabCharge: membership in and activity with a terrorist group. Defense Attorney Hadad: stay until 13.08.07.Nabil Yosef Ali NatsarCharge: providing arms and services for terrorist acts. Defense Attorney: Shmuel ZilbermanThe prosecutor requests a stay for the hearing because she is waiting to receive new incriminating evidence. Zilberman jumps up and expresses his anger and extreme displeasure at the prosecutor’s behavior: “again and again she talks about new incriminating evidence and never bothers to notify the defense.” A technical argument ensued between the prosecutor and the defense attorney. After a long discussion, it was decided that the hearing would be postponed until 07.08. The detainee and his wife exchanged despairing glances.Tsalah Isa Mussa KasemCharge: membership in and activity with a terrorist group.Defense Attorney: Hadad. The judge (Lieberman) decided, in light of a police statement and witness testimony, that the detainee is guilty of two crimes: membership in Hamas and having a job at the parliament. It turns out that the accusation stems from the fact that he was the head of a Koran class. The sentence is to be handed down later this afternoon. We won’t be here, but we will get in touch with Hadad to find out about the sentence.Mahmud Saada AlatsaJordanian law applies to criminal acts, and the following cases fall into this category. The accused are not detainees. One of the accused has two case files that have been combined.Mahmud Hassin Musa TarikCharge: property crimesDefense Attorney: Abir MararThe defense attorney requests a stay in order to allow time for the witnesses. Lieberman tells the defense attorney that he should think hard about whether he really needs all of the witnesses – it costs a lot of money. Hearing postponed until 13.08.Mazan Jamil Namar AtsiCharge: use of counterfeit documents. Defense Attorney: MararLieberman has the official charges for the first case, but is unable to find the documentation for the second case. They decided to combine the two accusations: 1) driving an Israeli-registered car without permission, and 2) driving a stolen vehicle. Sentence: a fine of 3000 NIS and a month of a suspended sentence. The judge also stipulates that the convicted party can bring the receipt of his bail bond showing the amount he paid for bail, and be able to deduct this amount from his fine. The prosecutor is, however, unable to find the bail bond receipt in the case file.