GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – A Zionist regime court on Tuesday sentenced the Gaza director of a major international charity to 12 years in prison after the court earlier convicted him of trumped-up charges in a high-profile case in which independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing.
Mohammed el-Halabi, the Gaza director for the international Christian charity World Vision, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to the Islamic resistance movement Hamas. The trial, and his prolonged detention, have further strained relations between the Zionist regime and humanitarian organizations that provide aid to Palestinians. The sentence is likely to continue to affect those ties.
The trial sheds light on the way the Zionist regime’s legal system handles sensitive security cases, with the defense team given only limited access to evidence, which was also not made public. Critics say the courts too often side with the evidence brought forward by the regime’s security establishment.
“It’s inconceivable,” el-Halabi’s lawyer, Maher Hanna, said of the length of the sentence. “They insist that injustice will persist throughout the whole process.”
Both el-Halabi and World Vision have denied the allegations and an independent audit in 2017 also found no evidence of support for Hamas. Australia, which was the biggest single donor to World Vision’s humanitarian work in Gaza, came to similar conclusions in its own review.
In a statement, World Vision said the sentence stood in sharp contrast to the evidence and facts of the case.
“The arrest, six-year trial, unjust verdict and this sentence are emblematic of actions that hinder humanitarian work in Gaza and the West Bank,” the group said. “It adds to the chilling impact on World Vision and other aid or development groups working to assist Palestinians.”
Last year, the Zionist regime outlawed six Palestinian civil society groups over alleged terror ties and earlier this month shuttered the West Bank offices of some of them. The occupying regime has provided little evidence to back up its accusations. Nine European countries have rejected the regime’s charges against the groups, citing a lack of evidence.
After el-Halabi’s arrest, World Vision suspended its activities in Gaza, where over 2 million Palestinians live under a Zionist-Egyptian blockade imposed when Hamas nearly 15 years ago. Critics view the restriction as a form of collective punishment.
An independent audit of World Vision’s activities in Gaza found no evidence that el-Halabi was affiliated with Hamas or had diverted any funds.