Description

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli military court’s conviction of Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi of leading illegal demonstrations violates his right to freedom of assembly, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

His conviction, on May 20, of urging children to throw stones on the basis of a child’s statement also raises serious concerns about the fairness of his trial, the New York-based group said.

“The Israeli military authorities seem to have known it would be hard to justify convicting an activist for only leading peaceful protests, so they apparently used oppressive methods to produce evidence that he also encouraged children to throw stones,” said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Mideast director.

“Israel’s military justice system indicted itself with its verdict against Bassem Tamimi,” he said.

“In practice, the military made it virtually impossible for him to protest in his village and then convicted him of leading illegal demonstrations when he tried to hold protests anyway.”

His conviction for organizing illegal demonstrations came against a background of laws and practices that made it practically impossible for Tamimi to hold a demonstration in his home village, the group said.

The court sentenced Tamimi on May 29 to 13 months in prison, which he has already served, as well as a 17-month suspended sentence.

In a similar case in 2011, an Israeli military appeals court sentenced Abdallah Abu Rahme, a Palestinian advocate of nonviolent protests, to 16 months in prison.

______

Popular Commitee Leader Bassem Tamimi Sentenced

by Circarre Parrhesia - IMEMC & Agencies Report post

Bassem Tamimi, a leading member of the grass roots movement against the Israeli Annexation Wall and settlement construction in the village of an-Nabi Saleh, has on Tuesday been sentenced at the Israeli Ofer Military Court in the West Bank.

Mr. Tamimi was sentenced to 13 months imprisonment and a further 17 months suspended sentence. Tamimi was released following the judgement, due to having already served 13 months imprisonment waiting for his case to come to trial.

The ruling means that if Tamimi participates in any of the village's weekly non-violent protest activities he will be forced to serve out the remainder of the suspended sentence in prison.

Bassem Tamimi has been described as a human rights defender by Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union. Ashton has been critical of the trial against Tamimi, as she was of the trial against Abdullah Abu Rahme, a similar figure in the non-violent protest movement in the village of Bil'in.

The trial of Bassem Tamimi came under fire following allegations of coerced testimony from children of Nabi Saleh who, contravening international law, were interrogated by the Israeli military with neither legal representation or a parent or guardian present.