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Israel court sentences Palestinian girl to 8 ½ years in prison

Wednesday, 04 January 2017 11:09 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 January 2017 11:34 AM ]

Palestinian teenager Marh Jawdat Musa Bakir

An Israeli court has sentenced a Palestinian teenage girl to eight and a half years in prison on charges of attempts to carry out an alleged stabbing attack in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds in October 2015.

Amjad Abu Asab, the chairman of a local committee for prisoners’ families, said the Jerusalem al-Quds District Court passed the verdict against the 17-year-old Marh Jawdat Musa Bakir on Wednesday.

She was found guilty of attempting an assault in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds, which lies two kilometers north of the al-Quds’ Old City, on October 12, 2015.

Bakir was also ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 Israeli shekels (over 2,500 dollars).

The Palestinian teenager was arrested outside her school in Sheikh Jarrah after being shot and seriously wounded in her hand. She was discharged from hospital on November 1 that year, and initially moved to the Ashkelon prison before being transferred to Ramla and HaSharon prisons.

Bakir needs follow-up treatment and medical care as bullets have smashed bones in her hand. She is also in need of a muscle transplant.

Deadly 2016

Meanwhile, the Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), which is an independent non-governmental organization working to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children, says 32 Palestinian children were killed in the occupied West Bank last year, making 2016 the deadliest year of the past decade for Palestinian minors.

The group pointed to a number of shootings of Palestinians in West Bank that resulted in death or serious injury, saying that Israeli soldiers failed to exercise proper procedures in some cases as they were not at risk and could have prevented such incidents.

Ahmad Zeidani, 17, was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on December 18, 2016.

“Israeli forces have increasingly used excessive force to squash demonstrations since 2014,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a director at the DCIP.

He added, “Intentional lethal force now appears to be routinely used by Israeli forces, even in unjustified situations, with no accountability, putting more and more children at risk.”

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed tensions ever since Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 270 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October that year.

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