Court convicts 4 ex-police of abusing Palestinian

Four former Border Policemen were convicted Thursday of abusing and mistreating a mentally disabled Palestinian in 2009.

The Jerusalem District Court found Assaf Koneh, Mevorah Benyamin, Boziya Porhan, and Dor Yackobi guilty of tying the Palestinian in a jeep and threatening him with an attack dog while pouring water on him. They also repeatedly asked him for his ID number, which he didn’t remember.

At the heart of the case was a video clip, filmed by one of the men using a mobile phone, which showed how they mistreated the victim after he failed to produce his identity card or remember its number.

Yackobi was also found guilty of assault, while his three friends were convicted of threatening the man.

The Palestinian was eventually released from the jeep and sent home. However, the video clip began to circulate on the Internet and the four men were arrested and questioned by the Police Investigations Unit.

Although the investigations unit was unable to track down the Palestinian man in the video, the four Border Policemen, who have since completed their service, were eventually charged in June 2011 with abusing and threatening a helpless person.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.