Israeli court delays trial of Fatah lawmaker for 38th time

Date: 26 / 04 / 2009 Time: 11:59

Jamal At-Tirawi [Ma'anImages]

Nablus – Ma’an – The Israeli military court at Salem delayed the trial of jailed Palestinian lawmaker Jamal At-Tirawi for the thirty-eighth time on Sunday.

The trial is now scheduled for 3 May. A Fatah-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) At-Tirawi has been held in prison since May 2007, when Israeli forces seized him from his home in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus.

At-Tirawi is accused of working with Fatah’s now-demobilized armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

In a statement issued on Sunday, At-Tirawi dismissed the charges as an attempt to delegitimize him.

“The witnesses confirmed in court that they do not have any relations with me but the court aimed to enlarge the case,” he said.

Meanwhile, the head of the solidarity committee with At-Tirawi, Ghassan Hamdan, also called the proceedings a “political trial.”

Some 40 members of the PLC are held in Israeli prisons.