TEL AVIV, 6 May 2003 — Three Palestinians testified yesterday in a Tel Aviv court during the trial of Marwan Barghouti, but the prosecution witnesses said they had confessed under duress, and defended the West Bank Fatah leader. Nasser Oweiss, who was given 14 life sentences plus an additional 50 years in another court yesterday for attacks, which killed 14 Israelis and wounded dozens, denied having confessed any military link to Barghouti and said his affidavit was forged by Israeli intelligence.
When asked whether he remembered making his confession, he said: “Everything in this confession was written by Shin Beth (Israel’s internal security services). I remember the torture during my interrogation and this is not my handwriting. This is another manipulation against the Palestinians... The Israeli people should understand they have no future as long as the occupation continues.”
Oweiss was believed to be one of the top commanders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah which has committed a string of deadly anti-Israeli attacks and which Israeli charges was founded by Barghouti.
Two other Palestinian witnesses also denied the contents of their affidavits yesterday and rejected the court’s authority to try them.
And Barghouti, who speaks fluent Hebrew, accused the court translators of distorting the testimonies of the Palestinian witnesses from Arabic to Hebrew.
“The translations are selective and inaccurate. You are ignoring the statements of the witnesses. You bring all the witnesses in the world against me but it is your duty to translate these statements.”
On Sunday, the court was to hear the testimonies of seven detained Palestinians purportedly under the command of Barghouti and also accused of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks. But the seven refused to testify against the Fatah leader, refuted confessions obtained through interrogation, and were declared “hostile witnesses” by the judge.
The 43-year-old was charged in August with orchestrating attacks against Israelis, belonging to a terrorist organization and possessing weapons, accusations, which could see him sentenced to life imprisonment.
Belonging to a younger generation of Fatah leaders, Barghouti was an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian uprising, which erupted in September 2000.
Israeli spokesman Daniel Taub said the court, which had been meant to wind up the witness hearings yesterday, would meet again on June 2 to allow two witnesses who had not been able to appear to testify. He said it was then up to Barghouti to decide if he wanted to call his own witnesses or present a defense.
Barghouti has consistently refused to take either option, instead insisting the court has no jurisdiction over him, a Palestinian deputy captured during an Israeli raid in the autonomous Palestinian town of Ramallah in April last year.
The Oweiss was charged in August with orchestrating attacks against Israelis, belonging to a “terrorist” organization and possessing weapons, accusations, which could see him sentenced to life imprisonment. Belonging to a younger generation of Fatah leaders, Barghouti was an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian uprising, which erupted in September 2000.
Oweiss, arrested just over one year ago in Nablus, was convicted of 14 counts of murder last week. He has said the court has no jurisdiction to try him and refused representation.
Palestinians say Oweiss is one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah party. The Brigades have claimed responsibility for scores of shooting attacks and suicide bombings on the West Bank and in Israel, since they came into existence shortly after the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) erupted in the autumn of 2000.
Israel says Oweiss acted on the instructions of Barghouti, when he set up the Al-Aqsa Brigades. “ Oweiss is responsible for murderous terrorist attacks and for the murder of women and children without distinction, reflection, regret or qualms,” the judges were quoted as saying in their verdict.
