 OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank - An Israeli military court on Tuesday ordered 18 Palestinian Hamas party members charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation to remain in custody for at least 48 hours.
The judge initially ordered the release of the 18 officials, including parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, but agreed to a demand from the military prosecution to keep them in custody pending an appeal. Dweik and his 17 colleagues, who were arrested in a massive clampdown on Hamas after its armed wing claimed responsibility for the capture of an Israeli soldier, have been charged with ‘belonging to a terrorist organisation’.
‘The judge’s initial decision counts for nothing. What counts for me, is to see these people free and with their families,’ one of the defence lawyers, Jawad Boulos, told reporters.
| So they can get back to do what they do best. |
The appeal against the decision to release the officials from the governing Palestinian party will be heard on Thursday. The judge said his decision to release them, albeit on bail at 25,000 shekels (5,700 dollars) a head, was because he was ‘not convinced’ their continued detention was justified.
| This guy could be a Federal judge in Detroit ... |
Boulos quoted the judge as saying that if they are ‘terrorists’ as the army maintains, then the military should have arrested them ‘before or during’ the parliamentary elections that Hamas won by a landslide on January 25. ‘Israel approved the holding of the elections and even facilitated them,’ Boulos quoted him as saying.
| And then Israel jugged them. Kinda neat how that works. |
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