Nazareth District Court Resumes Trial of Arab MK Sa’id Naffaa Tomorrow, Thursday 28 June 2012, 8:30 am
Tomorrow, Thursday, 28 June 2012 at 8:30 a.m. the trial of MK Sa’id Naffaa will resume in the District Court of Nazareth. The prosecution is charging MK Naffaa with illegal travel to an enemy state, assisting in organizing travel to an enemy state, and contact with a foreign agent. The charges include allegations that he organized and accompanied a delegation for approximately 300 individuals, including Arab-Druze religious leaders and social activists to holy places in Syria in 2007, and held political meetings with leaders that the state of Israel considers to be members of terrorist organizations.
Tomorrow, Thursday, 28 June 2012 at 8:30 a.m. the trial of MK Sa’id Naffaa will resume in the District Court of Nazareth. The prosecution is charging MK Naffaa with illegal travel to an enemy state, assisting in organizing travel to an enemy state, and contact with a foreign agent. The charges include allegations that he organized and accompanied a delegation for approximately 300 individuals, including Arab-Druze religious leaders and social activists to holy places in Syria in 2007, and held political meetings with leaders that the state of Israel considers to be members of terrorist organizations.
This hearing will consider arguments by MK Naffaa’s defense team, Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Orna Kohn and Attorney Saleem Wakim, that the charges fall within MK Naffaa’s parliamentary immunity and should be dismissed. The defense will argue that even if there was a meeting between MK Naffaa and a “foreign agent,” the nature of the meeting was political, not military, and it falls within his parliamentary immunity. This case marks the first time that an indictment has been submitted against an MK for meeting with a foreign agent, even for a meeting that was not security-related.
Regarding the charge of travel to an enemy state, the defense team will emphasize that the law of parliamentary immunity explicitly recognizes that all Knesset members have a right to travel nationally and internationally, and that immunity applies to this charge as well.
The three judge panel that will be hearing this case is composed of Judges Yitzak Cohen, Inyamin Arbil, and Esther Hellman.
The Indictment (in Hebrew)
Preliminary Arguments (in Hebrew)
State’s Response to Preliminary Arguments (in Hebrew)
Read More:
Press Release, MK Sa'id Naffaa's Legal Defense Team Rejects AG's Request to Hear Indictment before a Decision on his Parliamentary Immunity; Next Hearing 29 April 2012, 31 January 2012
Contacts:
Adalah Media Coordinator, Salah Mohsen,salah@adalah.org, 052-595-0922
Adalah Media Coordinator, Edan Ring, edan@unik.co.il, 054-668-0085
