Ofer - Membership/activity in unauthorized association, Remand Extension

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Observers: 
Nitza Aminov (reporting)
Jul-20-2016
|
Morning

Translation: Marganit W.

 

Don’t they realize how hard it is? Sure they do, but they do it on purpose

 

This is how my conversation with the Madura family ended.

Parents and daughter came to see the son who has been in detention for eight days.

It’s the usual story: soldiers entered the home (in the morning for a change) but the rest was routine: they turned the house upside down and took away the son. This is his first arrest; presumably the charge is throwing rocks.

 

The hearing took place in the late afternoon and the judge ordered only ONE-day remand. The father asked me: what is one day going to give them? Do they know at what time we had to leave the house and how long it will take us to get back? Sure, we’ll come tomorrow too, but WHY do they do it? Because they can.

 

Some of the hearings involved women, but those were short: they were all given dates for later hearings.

Benan Mafraja, a student from Beit Lakiya was arrested at the checkpoint.

Atty. Fadi Qawasme reported that she is accused of being a member of Kutla Ialamiya [Hamas students association].

The hearing was postponed to 24.7.16.

The parents were completely overwhelmed. Alaa Assaf, who is released on bail, spoke with them at length, but was unable to calm them. Alaa (also represented by Atty. Qawasme) is accused of providing services (to unlawful association) which is one degree less severe than ‘membership’.

Her hearing, too, was postponed to 25.9.16.

 

Aatidal Barkan – the poor woman from Bani Naim whose husband stole the money she had saved for her tiny shop, and who approached the Cave of the Patriarch with a knife with the intention of getting arrested.

Atty. Akram Samara is working on a plea bargain so she will spend only a short time in prison. 

The next hearing is set for 26.7.16.

 

In the hearing of Amal Takatka, from Beit Fajer, there was another postponement.

On 1.12.14 Amal came to Gush Etzion Junction and stabbed a settler. It was a superficial wound and he did not need medical treatment. Amal tried to leave the place, was shot by soldiers and was seriously injured. She was taken to hospital, and then to Sharon Prison.

The prosecution demands at least a 7-year penalty.

The next hearing is set for 6.9.16.

 

During the many hours I spent in the court I had an interesting conversation with Manal Abu-Aker and her daughter Dalia, both from Daheisheh refugee camp. Manal is the wife of Nidal Abu-Aker, of the Popular Front, who has spent many years in prison. Some of the terns were administrative detentions, and during some prison stays he went on hunger strikes. All told, he spent 15 years in Israeli prisons.

Manal and Dalia came for the hearing of the son/brother.

In November 2015, right before Nidal’s release, the army arrested the son.

The charges are: membership in the Popular Front and managing the Front’s Facebook site.

I asked Manal where her family used to live before ’48 and she said they came from Artuf [today an Israeli village named Hartuv], adding that she would love to visit the place where her ancestral village used to be.