13 years in prison for the young man convicted of killing Palestinian woman Aisha al-Rabi nearly 8 years ago
The District Court sentenced an Israeli youth, identified as C., to 13 years in prison for the manslaughter of Aisha al-Rabi, a 43-year-old Palestinian woman, in October 2018. C. was a minor at the time of the incident. He was convicted of manslaughter under terrorist circumstances after throwing a rock weighing about two kilograms at her vehicle. The key evidence was DNA found on the rock. His defense attorneys maintain his innocence.
The District Court today (Wednesday) sentenced C., an Israeli youth convicted of manslaughter under terrorist circumstances, to 13 years in prison for the killing of Aisha al-Rabi, a 43-year-old Palestinian mother of eight from the village of Bidya in Samaria. The incident occurred in October 2018, when C. was a 16-year-old minor. He was convicted last March, after the indictment was filed in 2019. According to the indictment, he threw a rock weighing about two kilograms at the car in which al-Rabi was traveling with her husband and their nine-year-old daughter. The key evidence against him was DNA found on the rock that struck the victim. The prosecution decided to charge him with manslaughter rather than murder. The Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, of which Aisha's husband Yaqub al-Rabi is a member, stated that the conviction is an important step toward justice, especially in the context of settler terrorism. In contrast, C.'s defense attorneys, lawyers Ariel Atari and Adi Kedar from the Honenu organization, maintain his innocence and note that one judge on the panel, Deputy President of the District Court Judge Liora Brody, acquitted him. They assess that there is a high chance the Supreme Court will overturn the conviction.