MK suspected of smuggling phones accuses AG of incitement
Basel Ghattas attacks Avichai Mandelblit for preparing indictment against him, saying 'they judge me unreasonably'
MK Basel Ghattas accused the attorney general of incitement for preparing an indictment against him for smuggling phones and coded messages to Palestinian prisoners.
Ghattas, of the Joint (Arab) List’s Balad faction, attacked Avichai Mandelblit’s decision Thursday to indict him.
“They judge me unreasonably, out of all proportion. It is simply incitement,” he said. “There is no fairness for an Arab member of Knesset,” Army Radio reported.
Ghattas was caught on prison surveillance video passing envelopes to the prisoners last month. He was released to house arrest last week, five days after he was arrested. On Thursday he was released from house arrest but is still required to be accompanied by a court-ordered escort.
Mandelblit authorized the indictment, which includes charges of using property to abet terror, fraud, breach of trust, and aggravated fraud.
The indictment will only be filed after a hearing with Ghattas where he, or his lawyer, will be able to present the attorney general with reasons he shouldn’t be charged. Then, or if Ghattas turns down the invitation for a hearing, a final decision on filing the indictment will be made.
According to the paperwork, Ghattas took advantage of his position as a member of Knesset, who is not subject to a body search, during a visit to Ketziot prison, where he met with Walid Daka, who received a 37-year sentence for the 1984 abduction and murder of 19-year-old IDF soldier Moshe Tamam. The MK also met with Basel Ben Sulieman Bezre, who is serving a 15-year sentence on a terror conviction.