GAZA CITY, 28 November 2005 — An Israeli minister raised the prospect that imprisoned intifada leader Marwan Barghouti could be released while a military tribunal jailed a Palestinian deputy yesterday over his involvement in violence.

Hossam Khader, who represents the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was sentenced by an Israeli military tribunal sitting in the West Bank after being found guilty of “transferring funds to a terrorist organization,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP.

The verdict was swiftly denounced by the Palestinian Authority and by Khader’s family who sought international support for it to be overturned.

Like Barghouti, who was handed five life sentences last year after being convicted of involvement in a number of deadly attacks, Khader refused to recognize the court’s authority since his arrest in 2003.

Prosecutors alleged during the course of his trial, which began last year, that Khader had given members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades money to buy equipment such as bullets and bulletproof vests.

One member of the Brigades signed an affidavit claiming that Khader had given him 4,000 shekels (nearly $900) to buy military equipment but he later claimed that he had only made his accusation under duress.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the verdict was without legal basis.

“This is a political judgment as there is no legal basis for any Israeli court to judge a Palestinian member of Parliament,” Erekat told AFP.

Khader’s brother Ghassan said the deputy’s lawyers had been instructed to begin measures to overturn the judgment.

“It is a political judgment and we will try with the help of international parliaments, human rights groups and the Palestinian Authority to ensure his release and we will appeal against the judgment which the court had no right to make,” he said.

Al-Aqsa, an offshoot of the ruling Fatah faction, has been behind dozens of deadly anti-Israeli attacks during the course of the five-year uprising.

Israel has accused Barghouti of being the movement’s overall leader, a charge that he has consistently denied.

Despite being held behind bars, Barghouti showed that he remains a potent political force as he easily topped weekend Fatah primaries to choose candidates for January’s parliamentary elections.

The result has prompted renewed calls for Barghouti’s release from Palestinians and on the Israeli left who regard him as a pragmatist and remember him in the past as a negotiating partner.

While Israel’s Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said it was “out of the question to free an assassin who has blood on his hands and was duly sentenced by a court,” a close ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refused to rule out such a move.

“In politics, you should never say never,” said Transport Minister Meir Sheetrit.

“If we are to reach a final peace agreement with the Palestinians, so that terrorism ends and total calm prevails, a pardon could be envisaged.” If Barghouti were to be released, he would need to receive a presidential pardon.

The current president, Moshe Katsav, who has another two years in his post, said he had no intention of pardoning Barghouti.

“The man was sentenced by a court to a number of life sentences, and I am certainly obligated by law and morality to respect decisions of the courts in Israel, which sentenced him to life imprisonment,” he told army radio.

The role of the president, however, is largely ceremonial and it is highly unlikely that he would refuse to pardon any prisoner if the government had decided he should go free.

— With input from agencies