Arab party head urges caution in ‘very serious’ charges against Ghattas

19 December 2016, 5:32 pm

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The chairman of the Joint (Arab) List MK Ayman Odeh says the charges that party lawmaker Basel Ghattas smuggled phones to inmates in Israeli prison are ‘very serious,’ but the Knesset should not act before they are proven to be true.

“The charges leveled against MK Basel Ghattas are very serious and as such they need to be clarified in an investigation and not a field court martial by lawmakers,” he says.

“Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and so the attempt to already convict Ghattas is forbidden,” Odeh says, adding that some lawmakers were attempting to use the case to target all Arab lawmakers.

— Raoul Wootliff