October 29, 2008 was supposed to be that happiest day in 32-year-old Halalia Mahamid's life. The Umm al-Fahm resident was to be engaged that night, but several hours before the engagement party, she was brutally slain by her two brothers, Mahmud and Khaled.
The Haifa District Court found the two guilty of murder Sunday and sentenced them to life in prison.
According to the indictment, the two, 27 and 31, disapproved of their sister's choice of husband, as the would-be fiancé was much older than her.
The two reportedly threatened to kill her if she went through with the engagement, and on that fateful day in October, around 5:30 pm, they stabbed her multiple times, inflicting mortal wounds to her chest and back.
Mahmud later turned himself in to the Umm al-Fahm police. He later implicated his brother in the murder as well. Nevertheless, the two professed their innocence throughout the trial.
Several family members who told the police the two had stabbed their sister later recanted their testimonies, but the court ruled that the initial testimonies and confessions were more reliable than the court-heard ones.
The court also dismissed the defense's attempt to argue that Halalia harmed herself, stating that "it is unlikely that the deceased could stab herself – three times in the chest and once in her back – using two different knives, and on the night of her engagement party."
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