Ahed Tamimi’s brother, Waed, was sentenced on Monday to 14 months’ imprisonment for alleged stone throwing.

Waed, aged 22, has been detained by Israeli occupation forces since May over “suspected involvement in popular terror acts,” Middle East Eye(MEE) reported. On Monday, an Israeli military court found Waed guilty of participating in a “violent riot” in which an Israeli police officer was wounded. He was given a 14-month sentence after reaching a plea bargain, MEE added.

 

Waed’s father, Bassem Tamimi, told MEE that:

 

"The whole case against my son is an admonitory one. I consider this to be revenge against the whole family. Many kids in similar cases went home without charges being filed against them. If it was someone from another family I believe he would have received less time".

 

Bassem added that “this sentence was a surprise for us. This stole our moment of joy with Ahed’s release,” referring to the release of his daughter from Israeli prison in late July. Ahed had been serving an eight-month sentence in an Israeli jail after a video of her slapping an Israeli occupation soldier who trespassed on her family’s land went viral in December 2017.

 

Then 16 years old, Ahed was taken from her home in Nabi Saleh, a village northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and placed in administrative detention. Her detention was repeatedly extended prior to her trial, which was conducted in a closed Israeli military court in February. After reaching a plea bargain she was sentenced to eight months in prison.

 

The Tamimi family have repeatedly been targeted by Israeli forces for their vocal activism against the Israeli occupation, which has been ongoing in the West Bank since 1967. Ahed’s cousin, Nour Tamimi, was also arrested for featuring in the viral video. After being held in an Israeli prison for two weeks, even though no charges had been brought against her, Nour was released on a 5,000-shekel ($1,455) bail. Ahed’s mother, Nariman, was also detained after she filmed the incident and shared it on social media.

 

Israel has since passed a law which bans the filming of its soldiers while on duty, with the penalty between five and ten years’ imprisonment depending on the perceived motive of the filming. The move has been seen as a bid to crackdown on activists like the Tamimis who document occupation forces’ human rights violations.

 

In June, 21-year-old Izz Al-Din Tamimi, another member of the Nabi Saleh family, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers then prevented Palestinian medical teams from reaching the youth, before taking his body away. An initial report by Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem said Izz Al-Din was shot at close-range and died almost immediately of his wounds.

 

The Tamimis have generated huge international interest, with solidarity demonstrations heldacross the world after Ahed was initially arrested. Upon her release in July, Ahed’s mother Nariman argued that support for her daughter was based on racism and ignored the plight of the other 273 Palestinian minors being held in Israeli prisons. Nariman explained “frankly it is probably Ahed’s looks that prompted this worldwide solidarity […] perhaps the world showed more solidarity because she looks like their children, but all Palestinian children are Ahed Tamimi.”

 

 

Source: Middle East Monitor