Corruption verdict delayed for Abbas rival

A Palestinian court postpones its verdict in the trial of exiled Gaza strongman Mohammad Dahlan, who is being tried in absentia on corruption charges, an AFP correspondent reports.

The ruling, which was to have been handed down at an anti-corruption court in the West Bank city of Ramallah, is delayed until the high court can rule on an earlier appeal regarding Dahlan’s parliamentary immunity, which was revoked in 2011.

Dahlan’s immunity was revoked by presidential decree shortly after his expulsion from the ruling Fatah party of PA president Mahmoud Abbas.

But according to Salameh Halaseh, one of the lawyers working for Dahlan, such a step can only be taken after a vote in parliament, which has not convened since 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major crisis with Fatah.

“On March 18, the high court will rule on Dahlan’s parliamentary immunity,” Halaseh says, indicating that the corruption court would only give its ruling once that issue was decided.

“This is a new twist,” says Sevag Torossian, who is also representing Dahlan and who has previously denounced the corruption trial as a “farce.”

The trial of Dahlan, once a leading Fatah figure who headed Gaza’s powerful security forces, began in December in connection with the alleged misuse of $17 million (15 million euros) in expenses.

Under Palestinian law, the fact that the trial is being held in absentia means his lawyers are denied access to the indictment itself or to any other court files pertaining to the trial.

— AFP