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http://www.palestinemonitor.org JUNE 30, 2011 Military Court’s Ruling in the matter of Nagi Tamimi, Nabi Saleh
On 5 March 2011, Nagi Tamimi, a leader of Nabi Saleh’s popular resistance against Israel’s annexation of its land, was arrested by the Israeli army. Tamimi had personally lost 70 dunams of land to the neighboring Jewish settlement, Halamish. On Monday, 27 June, Tamimi was sentenced to three years in prison and a 10,000 NIS fine by an Israeli Military Court. One of the three years will be served starting from his arrest in March. The remaining two are suspended under the strict stipulation that he does not participate in any “resistance” activity for the next five years. The following is the translated text (from the original Hebrew) of the It is important to note that Tamimi’s conviction was based on the testimony of a 14-year-old child, who was taken from his home during a night raid, and interrogated by Israeli Occupation Forces without any communication with his parents or a lawyer. Nagi Mohammad Abed Al Ateef Tamimi, 49 years old, a resident of Nabi Saleh was convicted based on his plea of guilty to the offense of incitement and support of an enemy organization. The original indictment was amended as part of the plea bargain. Nagi has been convicted of being (together with Basem Tamimi) the organizer, party responsible for and inciter of public disturbances and violent demonstrations in Nabi Saleh from January, 2010 until March, 2011. Nagi & Basem regularly brought together the youth of the village and other nearby villages dividing them into a number of groups with each group having a specific role as part of the violent demonstrations in Nabi Saleh. They briefed the groups during the week in the Municipal Building. One of the groups was responsible for blocking the security forces (SF) access to the village by blocking the village roads with large garbage dumpsters on Thursday nights. Another group was responsible for drawing the SF into ambushes set up by two other groups that would throw stones at the SF. Another group was responsible for gathering gas grenades, which failed to explode, and transferring them to another group which threw them at the SF. Another group’s job was to close the roads to the SF by burning tires and the use of boulders while another group would throw stones at the SF by the use of sling shots or hurlers. In addition, Nagi organized groups in the villages of Dir Nizam and Aboud to throw stones at Israeli vehicles driving to the Halamish settlement next to Nabi Saleh. As part of the weekly briefing, Nagi instructed some of the stone throwers to hurl stones directly at the SF while others were to circle behind the SF for the same purpose.In addition to the weekly demonstration, a group of youngsters under Nagi’s guidance would gather to throw stones at the watch tower at the village’s entrance. Nagi & Basem would hand out material to enable the youngsters to conceal their faces from the SF. During the period cited above and on various Fridays, Nagi gathered the the villagers from Nabi saleh and neighboring villages at the Town Council Building and led them in a mass march towards the village center for the purpose of creating a public disturbance and throwing stones at the SF. Nagi would organize nom violent marches which would then turn around as they approached the SF. This was the sign for the groups described above to act. Sometimes Nagi & Basem would go onto the roofs of the highest buildings in the vallage to view what was happening, incite, direct and caution the groups via their mobile telephones. After the demos, Nagi would go to Basem’s house with other activists discuss the instructions given to the youngsters and write a report about the actions taken during the demos. By these actions, Nagi & Basem organized, incited and executed the demos and disturbances and violence every Friday in Nabi Saleh. The parties to this proceeding presented a plea arrangement whereby i have been asked to fix Nagi’s punishment at 12 months actual prison time, an additional 24 months of prison time suspended for a period of 5 years to be activated should Nagi be found guilty of the offense of incitement, organizing and taking part in unlicensed demonstrations and enticing others to throw objects plus a 10,000 shekel fine or 18 months in prison instead of it. The points presented by the parties in favor of the plea arrangement are Nagi’s clean record, his confession and the saving of judicial time. Also the prosecutor said that Nagi was less dominant than his partner. After considering the parties arguments, the severity of the offenses as evidenced by the offenses of which Nagi has been convicted and the points in favor of leniency I find that the punishment presented by the parties is the most lenient possible punishment under the circumstances. (The decision then cites sections from the appeals in respect of Adeeb Abu Rahmah & Abdallah Abu Rahma of Bilin neither of which I will not translate, at least not for now, in order to expedite my posting of this translation) Nagi’s actions harmed the status of the SF and were designed to completely undermine the rule of law and those in charge of enforcing it. This in addition to the clear danger posed by incitement to organized violence and the attack of soldiers by rocks in the context of violent public disturbances. Indeed the agreed upon punishment of Nagi is not only lenient but is in fact on the bottom rung of the ladder of punishment. Nonetheless, I have taken into account Nagi’s confession which carries a certain weight in favor of leniency. This did not factor into the cases of Adeeb and Abdallah Abu Rahmah cited above. In light of the foregoing and given the principle that that the Court will accept plea arrangements unless they constitute an extreme deviation from the accepted norm of punishment, I have decided to accept the plea arrangement. Accordingly, I fix Nagi’s punishment as follows: 1. 12 months of actual imprisonment from the day of his arrest. 2. 24 months of imprisonment suspended provided that for 5 years he will not commit an offense of which he has been convicted or the offense of organizing and taking part in unlicensed demonstrations and incitement to throw objects. 3. A fine of 10,000 shekels or 18 months in prison in lieu thereof.
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