By Henriette Chacar
BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) – An Israeli court on Wednesday convicted a Palestinian aid worker who has been detained for six years on Israeli charges he funneled tens of millions of dollars in relief funds to the militant group Hamas.
The Beersheba District Court found El Halabi guilty of supporting a terror organisation but acquitted him of treason, judges reading out the verdict said. They set a sentencing hearing for July.
Mohammad El Halabi, head of Gaza operations for World Vision, an international Christian non-governmental organisation, was arrested in June 2016. Israel accused him of siphoning off up to $50 million to pay Hamas fighters, buy arms and fund the group’s activities.
El Halabi has consistently denied the charges against him and has refused several plea deal offers.
World Vision, which focuses on helping children, said an independent audit found no evidence of wrongdoing or of funds missing. It said that in the 10-year period El Halabi was employed, it budgeted around $22.5 million for operations in Gaza, making the amount El Halabi allegedly diverted “hard to reconcile”.
“World Vision acknowledges with disappointment the decision issued by the Beersheva District Court convicting Mr. Mohammad El Halabi,” Sharon Marshall, senior director of public engagement for the organisation, said in a statement outside the court after the verdict was delivered.
“We’re going to support Mohammad through whatever appeal process he has left in front of him because we believe, based on what we’ve seen in the court and in investigations, that he is innocent of the charges,” Marshall told Reuters.
International human rights organisations have criticised El Halabi’s prolonged detention and trial. Human Rights Watch said the guilty verdict against him “compounds a miscarriage of justice. Holding al-Halabi for six years based largely on secret evidence has made a mockery of due process and the most basic fair trial provisions.”
On Tuesday, ahead of the verdict, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Office in Palestine, James Heenan, also expressed concern over whether El Halabi’s trial had met international fair trial standards.
Widespread use of secret evidence, reliance on closed proceedings and credible allegations of ill-treatment in detention “paint a picture of enormous pressure on Mr el-Halabi to confess in the absence of evidence,” Heenan said.
In Gaza, dozens of Palestinians gathered with posters of El Halabi to show their support.
“This is a grave mistake and an injustice,” his father, Khalil El Halabi, told Reuters. “My son is innocent.”
(Reporting by Henriette Chacar in Beersheba; Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
