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Tamimi to be held in custody until trial
An Israeli military court on Wednesday ordered Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, aged 16, and her mother Neriman to be held in custody until her trial on 31 January.
Ahed Tamimi is charged with 12 different counts for six different incidents. The most recent, captured on film, showed her slapping an IDF officer and soldier on 15 December. She is also being charged with attacking security forces on five other occasions, rock throwing, participating in violent riots, as well as threatening and inciting others.
Her mother stands accused of assault under aggravated circumstances, incitement and disruption of public order.
The Military judge presiding over the case, Maj. Haim Baliti, rejected Tamimi’s appeal to be released from detention while she waits for her trail, saying that “the initiative she showed and the extent and severity of the violence used to attest to the risks she poses”.
“Her young age is a factor in considering her petition, but despite this and with regard to considerations of rehabilitation, there are no effective alternatives to detention and none were presented,” Baliti added.
According to Tamimi’s attorney Gaby Lasky, a high profile human rights lawyer and Meretz activist from Tel Aviv, Israel and its “occupation” tramples upon “international law principles such as those stemming from the Convention on the Rights of the Child… and do not think about ‘what is in the best interests’ of minors”.
Lasky further said that US President Donald Trump “needs to take responsibility” for the Jerusalem decision which led to an outcry of Palestinian protests.
Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, said that “when the prosecutor and the judge are soldiers and their shared interest is to continue the occupation, this decision was a foregone conclusion”.
The court ruling stated that the IDF’s lenient approach, letting Tamimi off from prosecution from her earlier offences and giving her chances to improve her behaviour, has proven unsuccessful.
The ruling was praised by Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who welcomed the decision to keep Tamimi in custody until the end of her trail: “Our message is clear — the State of Israel won’t allow soldiers to be attacked and anyone who tries to attack them will pay a high price.”