Happy New Year: Benjamin Hassin, an Israeli who has been imprisoned in Kurdistan since 2015, was released from prison today (Wednesday). He is expected to return to Israel in the coming days.
About a year ago, an Iraqi-Kurdish judge officially overturned the death sentence imposed on Hussein, a Jew born in Iraqi Kurdistan. The decision was made after a "pardon" agreement was completed between Hussein's family and the family of a driver who was killed in an incident between the two - and Binyamin was convicted of killing him. As part of the "pardon," a "ransom" amount was transferred.
Hussein will be represented in Kurdistan by local lawyers. The person who handled the case outside of Kurdistan, in the initial stages, was Attorney Mordechai Tzibin, who handles Israeli prisoners abroad, and operates and guides rabbis and activists on how to act, who tried to enlist the help of an Arab billionaire from one of the countries in the region. That billionaire met with ultra-Orthodox Jewish activists from abroad, including Rabbi Weiss from Belgium.
Attorney Mordechai Tzibin. Photo: Courtesy
Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek organization, one of the most respected Haredi activists in the United States, was the first to hire the services of an American attorney and occasionally paid amounts for legal fees. He said he stopped funding the legal defense because he concluded, after a legal examination, that there was no danger of death.
The case was later handled by US officials, who raised funds to pay the "ransom" to the family of the deceased.
The affair began when Hussein returned to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014 for a family visit with his grandfather. At that time, ISIS attacked the region and led to the collapse of local order.
Hussein joined local Kurdish forces to defend the towns from terrorism. In 2015, a local taxi driver noticed that he spoke Hebrew and threatened to hand him over to ISIS. A struggle ensued between the two, during which the driver was injured - and later died from his wounds.
Hussein was arrested, and in 2020 a Kurdish court sentenced him to death by hanging, which was actually not carried out but commuted to life imprisonment.
As mentioned, after mediation and conducting a "forgiveness" between the families, the parties reached an agreement that included a "ransom" - which led to the official cancellation of the sentence.
Attorney Mordechai Tzivin, who handles Israelis who got into trouble abroad, Arabs from enemy countries, in international criminal law and Interpol, says that the law enforcement agencies in Kurdistan should be thanked for their decent conduct, contrary to the misleading global image.
