The Haifa District Attorney’s Office today (Monday) filed an indictment in the city district court against Firas Ali (38), Nihad Khatib (46) from Acre and Izz al-Din Jaradat from Judea and Samaria for extortion by threats and force, kidnapping, robbery, sabotage and more. This is after they conspired to extort from the complainant the ownership of the plots of land he owned.
According to the indictment filed by Advocate Naju Suleiman, the defendants Firas and Jaradat together with another person conspired to forcibly extort from the complainant the plots of land owned by him. Israel (even though he knew they did not have a lawful entry permit).
According to the indictment, while the complainant was handcuffed, the three began rummaging through closets to locate the documents related to the complainant’s ownership of the plots of land. At the same time, valuable belongings belonging to the complainant were taken from the closets. While the complainant was handcuffed and lying on the floor, the other person hit the complainant in the leg with a hammer he found in the apartment, Firas hit the complainant in the head with the hammer threatening him “today you are going to die if you do not sign all the lands” and Jaradat attacked the complainant A flyer he found while the other person turned to the complainant and informed him that he had to sign paperwork.
The defendants later put the complainant in the car and drove to Firas’ house, where his partner Khatib was also present. The defendants seated the bruised complainant in the living room of the house, threatening him that if he did not sign all the paperwork during the night – he would die. Khatib then approached the complainant and ordered him to sign the documents, saying that he must sign so that he would not be killed. Due to the complainant’s concern, he signed documents given to him by the defendants and the other. Immediately afterwards, Firas called a lawyer who is in the Palestinian Authority and told him that the complainant had signed all the documents and that they would come to meet him at the checkpoint near the entrance to Jenin. In light of the above, the defendants, the other and the complainant drove towards the checkpoint, while during the trip the defendants threatened the complainant that he would sign all the documents so as not to kill him.
During a routine patrol a police car passed the vehicle in which the defendants were leading the complainant, when Firas got out of the vehicle to talk to the policemen, Jaradat tried to prevent the complainant from calling for the help of the policemen while Khatib threatened him (the other person got out of the vehicle before meeting the policemen). Notwithstanding the above, the complainant pounded on the door of the vehicle with his legs, opened the door and got out of the vehicle handcuffed, shouting to the aid of the policemen “Police police, save, want to murder me”. The police noticed the complainant’s distress and rescued him with a bruise and handcuffs.
In the indictment, the defendants were charged with extortion by threats and force, kidnapping for the purpose of extortion or threat, aggravated robbery and aggravated intentional sabotage. Firas was also charged with the offense of transporting a foreign resident, and Jaradat was also charged with illegal entry and residence in Israel and unlawful entry and residence in Israel.
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