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Israel’s High Court of Justice: Convicted Palestinian Will Not Be Executed
Shurat HaDin has been informed by Israeli government sources that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has made formal assurances that it will not carry out a planned execution of a suspected Israeli agent handed down by a military tribunal in Hebron. The Palestinian defendant, Imaad Sa’ad 25, was sentenced to death last month.
Shurat HaDin had led a public campaign and petitioned the High Court of Justice on May 20 to compel the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel to take immediate action to rescue the convicted agent. In its response to the Shurat HaDin petition the State’s Attorney has now declared that Israel has received assurances from the PA that Sa’ad will not be executed.
“We have been informed that the Palestinian Authority has assured the Government State of Israel, that there is no intention to follow-through with the death sentence for convicted collaborator Imad Sa’ad,” thus reads the letter dispatched by Israel’s High Court of Justice to former Soviet Prisoner of Zion Ida Nudel and her Attorney, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Director of the Israel-based human rights organization Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center (http://www.israellawcenter.org).
Sa’ad, 25, is a Palestinian Police officer who became world famous after being sentenced to death by a PA military court in Hebron on allegations that his assistance to Israel’s security forces led to the killing of four fugitive Palestinian terrorists.
“Based on similar cases in the past, the Palestinian Authority is usually quick to carry out death sentences against accused Israeli agents,” said Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner upon receiving the letter indicating that Sa’ad’s life was saved. “The swift actions of Ms. Nudel and Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center to save his life were therefore critical.”
During the campaign to stave off the execution, Shurat HaDin dispatched urgent appeals on behalf of Ms. Nudel to Pope Benedict XVI, United States President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, the United Nations and the European Union and filed a request for action with Israel’s High Court of Justice while attempting to engage world media support.
Ms. Nudel, 74, has been represented by Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Shurat HaDin in a number of similar cases involving accused Palestinians in the past. The two have repeatedly succeeded in asserting sufficient pressure via diplomatic, legal and public means to bring the PA to stay executions of alleged Israeli agents and have had the condemned individual’s sentences commuted from death to a life sentence.
“We are proud that this campaign was, for the time being, successful,” said Attorney Darshan-Leitner, “We call upon all involved, from the government of Israel, through the courts and the international religious, diplomatic and human rights community, to remain vigilant, alert and active to make sure these inhuman and unjust sentences are not being imposed by PA kangaroo courts in similar cases in the future.”
For more information or to schedule an interview please contact: Nitsana Darshan-Leitner 011.972.52.383.7020 Mike Cohen 011.972.54.499.6453
Shurat HaDin  Israel Law Center is a Jewish human rights institute based in Israel and staffed by some of the country’s leading activist attorneys. Shurat Hadin represents victims of terrorism in an ongoing a relentless campaign against global terrorism via economic legal proceeding in Israeli courts and the court systems of many other nations.
