The guilty verdict was reached despite no substantial evidence being presented to support the charges laid against el-Halabi,the former director of theWorld Vision aid organisation in Gaza,diverting humanitarian resources to terrorist groups. The only thing his case has evidenced is the way the system is designed to ensure the conviction of Palestinians.
On June 17,2016,el-Halabi was detained by Israeli authorities while he was crossing back into Gaza at the official border. Almost six years later to the day,late on Wednesday night Australian time,the guilty verdict was handed down.
This case was never grounded in any reality. The allegation of $50m stolen alone is incompatible with the reality of a $22 million total budget.
Contrary to the Israeli government’s claims of respect for the rule of law,the conduct of this trial demonstrates a fundamental disregard for the core principles of a fair trial and the overarching political objective which is to strictly control humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Some key facts about el-Halabi’s case:
- He was detained without charge and interrogated for 50 days without access to legal representation,allegedly subject to torture in efforts to extract a confession.
- His defence team was denied access to the full evidence brief throughout the proceedings.
- He appeared more than 180 times in court over five years,in deliberately drawn-out proceedings that required repeated extensions of standard periods of detention.
- His defence team was given only four hours to present its closing arguments,while the prosecution was given one and a half days. Then the defence was directed to put its case in a written submission of a maximum of 20 pages.
- The verdict has been pending for nine months since the court adjourned in October.
Most damning of all,not a shred of evidence was presented to substantiate the key charges.