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Prisoner from 2000 Ramallah lynching released in plea bargain

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A man accused of killing an IDF soldier during an infamous lynching incident 17 years ago has been released from prison.

Haitham Muari has had his request for a retrial accepted on the basis of new evidence that cast doubt over his involvement in the murder of IDF reservist Yossi Avrahami, in 2000. Avrahami was killed alongside Vadim Norzich, after they strayed into Ramallah by accident.

Muari was given a life sentence in 2014, but IDF officials said that they have reached a plea bargain with him that does not include the charge of murder because of difficulties with evidence and of holding a trial after so many years.

He has now had his sentence reduced to 11.5 years, and has been released from Ofer Prison in Gaza due to time served.

His accomplice Aziz Salha, who was seen in a window with blood on his hands in a picture that spread around the world, remains in prison serving a life sentence.

On a separate incident yesterday, a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem was shot and killed after she attempted to stab a border policeman with a pair of scissors at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City.

Siham Ratib Nimr, 49, was the mother of Mustafa Nimr who himself was shot and killed by IDF soldiers in November. It has since emerged that he was killed mistakenly. He was feared at the time to be conducting a car ramming attack, but he was in fact driving recklessly.

Also, in Gaza, Hamas released a propaganda video threatening to kill top Israeli officials following the assassination of Mazen Fuqaha. The video shows a sniper in camouflage and then senior Israeli security officials, and politicians, including Defence Minister Lieberman and Minister Gilad Erdan through the gun sights. The video included text saying: “The retribution will fit the deed.”