General Secretary of Abnaa elBalad sentenced to 30 months of prison

11/10/2004

Comrade Mohamad Kana`aneh - Abu As`ad, General Secretary of Abnaa elBalad Movement sentenced to 30 month of incarceration

Haifa, October 10th 2004 - A panel of 3 judges of the Haifa District Court sentenced today the secretary general of "Abnaa elBalad" movement, comrade Mohamad Kana`ane -Abu-As`ad, to 30 months of imprisonment and 2 years suspended incarceration. The state prosecution had requested a sentence of 6 years for the charge of contact with a foreign agent (namely, Ibrahim `Ajweh Abu-Yaffa) in Jordan.

Comrade Kana`ane was defended by attorneys Salim Wakim and Mo´nes Khouri, who had asked their defense on comrade Kana`ane`s political activity, and the political nature of his meetings with Ibrahim `Ajweh and other political activists in the Arab world, pursuant to his position as secretary general of the movement.

Comrade Kana`ane stated that his imprisonment is the price to be paid for his political positions and activity, and the political activity of Abnaa elBalad movement, and is a part of the persecution of Palestinian masses and the political activists inside the territories occupied at 1948. Comrade Kana`ane stated his sentencing is to be seen as another step in a policy of suffocation of the democratic political activity.

Large numbers of comrades and supporters attended the court hearing, completely packing the hall and spilling onto the corridors of the judicial complex.

Further information:
www.abnaa-elbalad.org/arrests04.html
www.abnaa-elbalad.org/verdict.html
www.abnaa-elbalad.org/ADasraa.html