World Vision’s former chief in Gaza has pleaded not guilty to Israeli charges that he funnelled Australian federal aid money into the coffers of Hamas, as it emerged that authorities have placed him in solitary confinement as punishment for speaking to the media at his first public hearing last month.
Mohammed El Halabi was arrested in June last year on 14 charges of using his position as manager of the charity’s projects in the impoverished enclave to provide cash, materials and information to assist the terror group in carrying out attacks against Israel.
At the previous hearing last month Mr El Halabi declared his innocence to foreign journalists and claimed he had been tortured after his arrest, which was denied by Israel. A spokeswoman for the Israeli prison service confirmed to The Australian that Halabi was placed in solitary confinement on Sunday as a “disciplinary punishment.”
Read the article by Jacob Atkins in The Australian.