Palestinian prisoner sentenced to 125 years for killing Israeli official

Monday December 03, 2007 15:15 by Mayssa Abu Ghazalaeh - IMEMC News

The Palestinian political detainee Hamdi Qur'an was sentenced by the Israeli central court in Jerusalem on Monday. He was handed down a life sentence and 100 additional years in prison.

Qur'an was accused of killing the right wing Israeli tourism minister Rahba'am Zaivi. Zaivi was killed in 2001 by the Palestinian faction; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian.

The Israeli official had been known for his radical views, among them publicly calling for Palestinians to be forced off their lands.

Qur'ans' lawyer, Imeel Mashriki told IMEMC that the court had accused Qur'an of the murder of Za'izi and five additional charges.

Qur'an was arrested by Palestinian police along with three other PFLP members in 2002, following the Israeli forces attack on the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat's' compound, in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, where he was being held.

Qur'an was moved to a Palestinian prison in Jericho under the supervision of British and American monitors' .In 2005 however, the Israeli army attacked the prison and kidnapped Qur'an along with the general secretary of the popular fronts for the liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa'adat who was also being held there.

Translated by Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC News

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