ISRAEL SENTENCES HANEYA’S SISTERS TO EIGHT MONTHS FOR GAZA VISIT

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Photo: MINA

Al-Quds, 19 Rabiul Awwal 1436/10 January 2015 (MINA) – An Israeli court Thursday issued an eight-month suspended sentence against two sisters of Ismail Haneya, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, for visiting their relatives in the Gaza Strip a few years ago.

The Hebrew radio said that the district court in Beersheba sentenced Sabah Haneyya and Lila Abu Raqiq to eight suspended months on charges of their entry to Gaza illegally, The Palestinian Information Cebter (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Haneya’s sisters, who are married to Palestinian men living in the 1948 occupied lands, were also fined 20,000 shekels ($5,100) under the same charges.

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The court verdict stated that the defendants are Israeli citizens who entered the Gaza Strip in 2012 through Egypt after the Israeli authorities declined their request for travel.

The Israeli occupation authority rarely grants permits to Palestinians with ‘Israeli citizenship’ who want to visit Gaza. (T/P011/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)