Hura riot, November 2013
Photo: AFP
Rioters who stoned policemen sentenced to three years in prison
Three people who participated in violent riots against the Bedouin resettlement plan in 2013, were sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of attacking riot police with rocks.
Three residents of the south who threw stones at police and rioted during a violent protest on November 30, 2013 in the Bedouin village of Hura against a bill to resettle Bedouins in the south were sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison, suspended sentences and a fine of NIS 25,000.
The controversial bill—called the Prawer Plan, which has since been shelved—caused a day of rage to be announced by Israeli Bedouins and was followed by outbreaks of violent protests all over the country, with dozens injured and dozens more arrested in clashes with peace-keeping police forces.
Hura rioters, 2013 (Photo: EPA)
The riot in Hura lasted for hours, during which demonstrators threw stones at the police and set fire to a police cart, a police fence, an electricity pole, trees and nearby shrubs and bushes. Police vehicles were also pelted with rocks and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the policemen.
The prosecution filed an indictment against five people involved in the riot. All the defendants have denied their guilt.
Hura riot, November 2013 (Video: Roee Idan) (צילום: רועי עידן, עידו בקר, חסן שעלאן ואלפרד חדאד)
Judge Ron Sulkin of the Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court convicted the defendants, each according to his offenses attributed, on all charges—which included assaulting police officers under aggravated circumstances, disturbing a policeman in the performance of his duties, rioting, and more.
The judge did not accept the defendants' claim that they "happened by chance" to be at the riot.
"It would not be an exaggeration to say that the intensity of the violence used in this gathering is one of the gravest," Judge Sulkin ruled. "The court must give (the policemen) the appropriate backing when they are attacked while fulfilling their duties."
Riot police in Hura, 2013 (Photo: Gettyimages)
The court sentenced three of the five defendants, Atef Abu Aish, Obeida al-Hawashleh and Osama Nasasreh, to three years in prison, suspended sentences and a fine of NIS 25,000 each.
The fourth defendant, Ataf al-Qian, was sentenced to six months of community labor, suspended prison terms and a fine of NIS 15,000.
The fifth defendant, Samir al-Sayyid, did not appear for the hearing, and therefore his sentence has not yet been handed down.
The Southern District Attorney's Office stated at the end of the hearing that "the court in its sentence made a clear and unequivocal statement that a public struggle cannot be conducted with violence, and the security and safety of Israeli police officers are not forfeited."
