‘Israeli court delays sentencing of youngest Jordanian prisoner, again’

AMMAN — The sentencing hearing of the youngest Jordanian prisoner in Israel has been postponed, again, this time from October 27 to November 26, his father said Tuesday.

“The Israeli military court’s recurrent postponement of issuing a verdict in Mohammad’s case is just a game of nerves,” Mahdi Suleiman told The Jordan Times.

Mohammad may be sentenced to 15 years in prison in addition to a fine of 40,000 Israeli shekels (some JD7,350), according to his 58-year-old father.

The teenager was 16 years old when he was arrested in March 2013 while visiting his relatives in the West Bank, and has attended around 60 hearings so far.

He faces 27 charges, including attempted murder and injuring 18 Israeli soldiers.

Mahdi also noted that his son undergoes “severe forms of punishment” at Israeli prisons, including being put in solitary confinement for long periods without clear reasons.

“On Saturday, I was at the Professional Associations Complex in Irbid, where I had an opportunity to speak about my son’s case and acquaint people with the circumstances of Jordanian prisoners in Israel in general,” he said, expressing his astonishment that some people did not know about this issue.

On June 14 this year, Mahdi started a hunger strike near the Foreign Ministry, calling for arranging a visit to his son and ended the protest five days later after the ministry succeeded in securing a visa for him.

Mahdi said in previous remarks that he visited his son recently in Megiddo Prison in Haifa where he spent around 45 minutes with him, separated by a glass barrier, although he was expecting a two-hour visit with direct contact.