Israel: Arabisk medlem af Knesset anklages for landsforrædderi

Azmi Bishara var den eks-kommunistiske første arabiske kandidat til premierminister-posten i Israels historie i 90erne, og formåede med en vis karisma at samle arabiske stemmer op ved hvert valg efter han var med til at grundlægge det national-socialistiske arabiske parti Balad. I torsdags blev anklagerne mod ham for landsforrædderi og kollaboration med terrorbevægelsen Hezbollah offentliggjort:

Passing information to and helping the enemy while Israel is in a state of war, contact with enemy agents, laundering of sizeable amounts of money - these are some of the serious charges which hang over former Knesset member Azmi Bishara, the charismatic and popular leader of the Arab Israeli party Balad.

Bishara risks a sentence of ten years in jail. According to a jurist of the Israeli radio, he risks capital punishment in theory, considering the state of war.

A court in Petah Tikva yesterday authorised the publication of the accusations faced by Bishara, partially revoking the censorship imposed on the case. A total revoking is expected in about a week.

Bishara is also suspected of having received large amounts of money from abroad, part of them transferred in his personal account during the war in Lebanon last summer. Bishira, whose resignation from the Knesset entered into force yesterday, denied the accusations against him from Qatar in an interview with the Al Jazeera television. He said he was victim of a campaign for seven years against him and his voters for the political ideas expressed.

Bishara has been for some time under investigation of the police and in the eye of Shin-Bet, the secret security service for his unauthorized trips in Syria and Lebanon, states still formally at war with Israel, which he made taking advantage of the parliamentary immunity.

Photos of a ceremony showing Bishara next to Skeikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader in Lebanon, sparked furious protests in Israel and calls to revoke Bisharàs parliamentary immunity.

Kilder:

• ANSA 26/4 2007: ISRAEL: BISHARA ACCUSED OF WORKING FOR HEZBOLLAH