Israeli-Kurdish Jew freed from Iraqi prison after 11 years for killing cab driver

An Israeli citizen walked free on Wednesday after more than a decade in prison in Iraqi Kurdistan, having faced the death penalty for the 2015 killing of a taxi driver.

Ben Hassin, a Kurdish Jew with Canadian and Israeli citizenship, traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 to visit family, and stayed to join Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State, according to media reports.

A cab driver in the city of Sulaymaniyah overheard him speaking in Hebrew, and threatened to hand him over to ISIS. He said that he shot the cab driver in self-defense.

Hassin, now 31, was sentenced to death in 2020, but according to reports, the sentence was later commuted to 15 years in prison. A campaign led by ultra-Orthodox groups in the US and Europe ultimately led to his sentence being overturned altogether last year, after a financial settlement with the taxi driver’s family.

In a video following his release, a visibly moved Hassin said he was crying “tears of joy” over his freedom.

“I’ve waited too long for this,” he said.

Israeli Ben Hassin is free after 11 years in a prison in Iraq's Kurdish region. He is expected in Israel shortly. A death sentence over an accidental killing was lifted after a pardon last year. pic.twitter.com/9pEf03WEGr

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His case was a secret in Israel for years until, according to Ynet, in 2016, then-Likud minister Ayoob Kara revealed that he was in contact with Hassin’s father, Ilan, and was pushing for his release.

Israel’s military censor formally kept the case under wraps until January 2017, when it allowed for partial details to be published so that Hassin and Kara could make a public appeal for funds for a financial settlement with the victim’s family.

In total, around $120,000 was raised at that time through the Israeli emergency service ZAKA, but the organization later said it was considering returning the money as it was unable to locate local officials to facilitate the transfer and secure Hassin’s freedom.

Kara, following Hassin’s release on Wednesday, recalled how when he first got involved in the Israeli-Canadian’s case, “the chances of release seemed nonexistent.”

“We managed to get the death sentence overturned and — thanks to kind-hearted individuals — we persevered,” Kara wrote on X. “Today, he has been released after a difficult struggle.”

“Whoever saves a single life, it is as though he had saved the entire world,” the Druze former lawmaker wrote, quoting a famous Jewish adage. “I am proud to have had the privilege of playing a part in this deeply sad affair.”

In addition to Kara, Hassin’s case also attracted the attention of US attorney Allen Lowy and former senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official Eyal Siso, according to Hebrew media reports, who both played a significant role in his release.

Siso, in a statement carried by Channel 12 on Wednesday, described Hassin’s release as “a deeply moving moment that concludes an 11-year journey.”

“Allen and I promised the late Stella [Hassin’s mother] that we would do everything in our power to bring Ben home, and we kept working toward that goal over the years, even when the road seemed long.”

“On the eve of Yom Kippur, Ben is returning home — to his family and to Israel,” added Siso.

According to Hebrew-media reports, Hassin is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days.