based on an interview by Shimon Cohen of Arnon Itiel in Arutz Sheva, translated by Hillel Fendel.
The latest public figure to call out
the injustice of the conviction of Amiram Ben-Uliel, author and columnist Arnon
Itiel, says that his confession of murder would not serve as an acceptable
confession in Western countries, given that it was extracted under torture.
At the very least, Itiel says, the
public debate surrounding Ben-Uliel's conviction in the Dawabsheh family murder
must be reawakened.
Ben-Uliel is a young Israeli husband and father serving three life sentences in jail, including years of solitary confinement, for a murder he confessed to only after being severely tortured. He has maintained his innocence for years, and many claim he was framed simply because of the political need to prove that "Jewish terrorism" was being dealt with.
It is also alleged that he was framed to cover up a feud between two families in the Arab village of Duma. No fewer than ten homes in the village were reportedly set ablaze in a similar manner over the course of several months prior to the Dawabshe deaths as part of the internal strife there.
Itiel concluded by saying, "When Joshua conquered the Land of Israel, he suffered a defeat when Achan acted unethically and took booty from the vanquished. Today, as well, our redemption will not happen if the truth behind the Ben-Uliel case is not uncovered and rectified."
"Every minute that Ben-Uliel remains in prison," Itiel
said, "is a is a stain on the conscience of every believing Jew."
Western countries do not accept confessions extracted under torture, Itiel
said, even if they are accompanied by reenactment, and murder convictions
require additional evidence.
"Let's imagine that his name was not Amiram Ben-Uliel, but
rather Yossi Ulilevitz," said Uliel, "and he was actually imprisoned
in China or what used to be the USSR after confessing under torture. Our entire
nation would be up in arms demanding his release! But when he is locked up here
at home in a Jewish prison, by Jews, then everything is OK?"
Other prominent Israelis who have spoken out against the
injustice to Amiram Ben-Uliel include Law Prof. Boaz Sangero (author of Convicting
Innocents in Israel and the World and similar books, who has called the Ben
Uliel case the worst example of an unjust conviction in Israel), Professor Yoel
Elitzur (member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language), Prof. Talia
Einhorn, the late Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Shlomo Aumann,
journalist Arnon Segal, Jonathan Pollard, Moshe Feiglin, and defense lawyer
Avigdor Feldman.
Working against Ben-Uliel are his confession and re-enactment of
the crime – but Itiel notes many cases in which the accused confessed and
re-enacted, and yet the conviction was later overturned. In Israel alone, he
says, "there have been Roman Zodorov, Amos Barness, Izat Nafsu, Sliman
El-Abid, and more."
Among
the many difficulties in the case against Ben-Uliel is the fact that an Arab
eyewitness testified that he had clearly seen two arsonists that night, yet the
indictment against Ben-Uliel charged that he had acted alone. In addition, two
different types of Hebrew graffiti were found at the site, yet expert testimony
stated that neither of them were written by Ben-Uliel.
The Shabak's Jewish Division denied that there had been any
torture leading up to the confession – though the District Court in the case
ruled straight out that there had indeed been torture.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said the
decision to uphold a confession based on torture showed a “glaring oversight”
in the legal system: “… it would have been appropriate for the court to have
given decisive weight to the fact that before Ben Uliel confessed to the acts,
interrogation methods involving severe and prolonged torture were applied to
him."
See here for a detailed analysis of the what should have been the inadmissibility of Ben-Uliel's confession:
At the time, the Haaretz newspaper noted that the evidence
against Ben Uliel included no objective evidence other than confessions
obtained under duress and his own reenactment – which he later retracted,
saying it was given based only on what the Shabak interrogators wanted to
hear.
Itiel finds some reason for optimism in that "the new
director of the Shabak, David Zini, is a man of integrity. The key is in his
hands, because the real murderer is living in the Arab village of Duma. I call
on Zini to do everything he can to find the real murderer. It shouldn't be
hard; the Shabak is one of the most effective secret police entities in the
world."