Yesterday, Ameer Makhoul accepted a plea bargain in the espionage case against him. The Public Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul released the following statement:
Defense lawyers in the case of Ameer Makhoul have reached an agreement with the state prosecutors on the terms of a plea bargain in the case. In accordance with the terms of the plea bargain the most dangerous item in the original list of accusations against Ameer, that of “aiding the enemy in time of war,” was dropped. The defense lawyers pointed out that in accordance with the amended list of indictments, the information he passed to an enemy agent includes no secrets. It is the sort of information that any interested party locally or abroad can access easily. Still, the act of transferring it to a foreign agent is defined in the letter of the dry law in Israel as espionage.
Legal experts estimate that the original unamended list of accusations could have carried a jail sentence much in excess of the 7-10 years that the plea bargain specifies. This true especially in light of the current poisoned Israeli political atmosphere, the dominant anti-Arab views and the continuing rush of the right towards fascism, They also pointed to the prominence of Ameer’s international role as another factor that could negatively affect the outcome of his case. In reaching their decision, the defense team took these views into consideration as well as the known precedents in Israeli security related cases. The court will decide on the exact terms of the ruling in accordance with the negotiated plea bargain in its next session on December 5, 2010.
A large number of the members of the Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul were present in court today to show their solidarity with Ameer and to challenge the court to rise above the poisoned street mentality in his case.
Israel known to jail Palestinians without the need of reason or trial has now “accepted” the plea bargain from a Palestinian accused of being a spy. Israel doesn’t accept plea bargains from stone-throwing kids so why is it now accepting to reduce all serious charges against the supposed spy? He’s most probably 100% innocent and his trial has to be a circus of some kind for the devious Israeli government. It sounds as bogus as last month’s story of the Egyptians in the Sinai intercepting armed ground-to-air fully armed missiles destined for the pipe rocket shooting Hamas or this weeks intercepted Hamas-bound containers in Nigeria of all places.
Ameer Makhoul “accepted” (They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse) a plea bargain because the state didn’t want a non-violent, peaceful civil rights activist on the loose, using Israel’s own laws to fight in court the state’s violations of its 20% Palestinian minority’s civil rights.
Nothing scares Israel more than non-violence for it knows not how to deal with it.
But, using force to solve problems, now THAT Israel has perfected.
From Israel’s perspective, the 21th century brought along all these annoying democratic values, rights and protections. The state finds it more difficult to get rid of the Palestinian intelligentsia like it did when it decimated it in 1948.
It took the Palestinians some 30 years to recover from that traumatic episode of destruction.
Incidentally, on a completely unrelated note, it was recently revealed that Iraq’s 400 top scientists were disappeared, murdered or assassinated following the invasion in 2003.
Apparently ‘someone’ wanted to send Iraq back to the stone age for years to come.
Incidentally, on a completely unrelated note, it was recently revealed that Iraq’s 400 top scientists were disappeared, murdered or assassinated following the invasion in 2003.
how recently? i heard about that at least 4 years ago. they always wipe out the elite first. what about professors. that comedian..he had is own show..well loved. it wasn’t just scientists, it was the cream who did not escape as refugees. all gone. bye bye iraq.
I learned about that just in recent months, annie.
Americans are not in the habit of rubbing out scientists but rather it welcomes them to work in the US if they are any good. It’s also evide3nt that these scientists were not a manace to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese or the Kurds. Who does that leave as the most likely suspect?
Speaking of Iraq, do you think that the UN will institute and special tribunal to investigate and prosecute those guilty of the horrors revealed in the Wikileaks?
That was a rhetorical question, right? ;)
Nonetheless, my answer would have to be: No, because Iraq has already been politically destabilized and forced to acquiesce to US demands. Lebanon, however, has become a pesky obstacle to US and Israeli hegemony in the region.