JERUSALEM
The Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem on Wednesday adjourned the trial of three Israelis accused of kidnapping and murdering Palestinian teen Mohamed Abu Khdeer last month in Jerusalem, Abu Khdeer family's lawyer said.
The Israeli public prosecution submitted indictments against the three suspects, including two minors, over kidnaping and killing Abu Khdeer, 16, from Shuafat neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
After publication was cleared by the Israeli Supreme Court, the Israeli authorities named the chief suspect in the case as right-wing extremist Joseph Haim Ben-David, 29.
Mohand Jebara, the lawyer of Abu Khdeer's family, told Anadolu Agency that the session was dedicated to look into a request to release the three defendants and not to keep them in detention until the end of the trial, which will last for minimum period of 16 months.
"Ben-David agreed to remain under arrest,” the lawyer said.
”However, the two minors refused to stay in prison until the end of the trial, requesting alternative processors such as home prison. Thus, it was decided to defer debates in this regard for the next week,” he added.
Prosecution also indicted Ben-David over the attempted kidnapping of Moussa Zalom, a nine-year-old boy from Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood, and assaulting him and his mother, one day before Abu Khdeer's abduction, the lawyer noted.
According to the Israeli police, Ben-David admitted that he beat the boy on the head with a hex key and then poured gasoline all over his body before setting him on fire.
Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, said the three suspects had admitted to kidnapping Abu Khdeer, beating him and burning him alive in revenge for the earlier kidnapping and killing of three Jewish teenage settlers in the occupied West Bank.
- Solidarity -
Outside the courthouse, dozens of Palestinians gathered to show solidarity with Abu Khdeer’s family.
"We are protesting here to demand slapping the most severe punishment against the killers,” one of the protesters, who asked not to be named, told Anadolu Agency.
“The perpetrators must be punished for their atrocious crime against this innocent child,” she added.
Abu Khdeer was abducted from outside his home in East Jerusalem's Shuafat neighborhood on July 2. Later the same day, his charred body was found in a forest near Jerusalem.
Footage taken from a security camera near Abu Khdeer's Jerusalem home showed what appeared to be Jewish settlers abducting the boy. In the footage, the kidnappers can be seen forcing him into their car before speeding off.
Preliminary autopsy report showed that he had been burnt alive by his kidnappers.
His murder was widely believed to be a "revenge" attack by Jewish extremists for the earlier disappearance and death of the three West Bank settlers.
No Palestinian group has ever claimed responsibility for the three settlers' disappearance or subsequent death.
By Anees Barghouthy
englishnews@aa.com.tr
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
