Former Palestinian security prisoner released due to children’s illness
Nazareth judge has mercy on Palestinian defendant arrested without permit to enter Israel, who previously spent 7 years in Israeli prison for security offenses, considering his son is ill with cancer, daughter has serious heart condition.
A Palestinian with a long record of security-related offenses was recently arrested for residing in Israel without a proper permit but managed to earn the judge’s mercy and was released to his home in Jenin Thursday after only 18 days in detention.
The Nazareth Magistrates' Court judge, Lili Jung-Goffer, accepted the defense attorney’s request to be lenient with the defendant because his three-year-old son is ill with cancer and his seven-year-old daughter underwent open heart surgery and is currently waiting for another life-saving operation. The judge decided to release him immediately.
The defendant was arrested two-and-a-half weeks ago near the town of Kfar Baruch in the Jezreel Valley after he failed to produce a permit to travel to Israel from the West Bank.
Officers then discovered that the man was previously incarcerated for seven years for several security-related offenses as well as impersonation, entering Israel without a permit and other offenses.
His state-appointed attorney claimed the man had a permit to accompany a patient to Israel but it had expired.
He appealed to the judge’s heart, saying, “He has three kids at home, the three year old is at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, sick with cancer; and his daughter has a heart condition. I request that you be lenient with the defendant in light of the extraordinary circumstances. Please do not block his ability to receive a permit and make do with temporary detention.”
Accepting the attorney's request, the judge ruled: “The defendant had a previous serious conviction and in ordinary circumstances would perhaps be considered dangerous. But the state saw fit to grant him permission to enter Israel for humanitarian reasons. Only one with a heart of stone can ignore his plight when the main factor here will be the effect his sentence will have on his wife and children. His family is dealing with extraordinary difficulties.”
He was sentenced to 18 days in prison, which in effect meant immediate release as he had been awaiting trial for that long. He was also slapped with an NIS 1,500 fine.
