Dr. Omar Saeed Sentenced to Seven Months in Prison

Dr. Saeed's Legal Defense Team: “The cancellation of the most serious charges against Dr. Saeed proves that the State Prosecution inflated the charges to begin with in order to justify its arbitrary and illegal actions used against him.”

(Haifa, Israel) On 8 July 2010, the Magistrate Court in Nazareth sentenced Dr. Omar Saeed, aPalestinian Arab citizens of Israel, pharmacological researcher and a political activist, to seven months in prison after accepting a plea agreement that was reached between the Israeli State Prosecutor's office and Dr. Saeed's legal defense team. The plea agreement, according to which Dr. Saeed pled guilty to a minor offense, replaces the grave charges for which he was indicted including 'contact with a foreign agent' and 'delivery of information for the benefit the enemy', which carried up to a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison. Dr. Saeed's sentence will begin to run from 24 April 2010, when he was arrested and incarcerated. 

Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein and Adalah Attorneys Orna Kohn and Hassan Jabareen, representing Dr. Saeed, consider the plea agreement to be an achievement. "In light of the prevailing political conditions and the seriousness of the charges against him, this is the best possible outcome for the case. The cancellation of the most serious charges against him proves that the prosecution inflated the charges in order to justify the arbitrary actions that were taken against Dr. Saeed such as preventing him from meeting with his lawyers for 16 days as well as the blanket gag-order on the case,” the legal defense team emphasized.

On 27 May 2010, the State Prosecution indicted both Dr. Saeed and Ameer Makhoul, the director of the Arab NGO network, “Ittijah” and a human rights defender for a series of offenses charging that they provided information to Hezbollah. Charges against Mr. Makhoul remain pending, and he vehemently denies the accusations against him.

Dr. Saeed was arrested on 24 April 2010. Dr. Saeed's arrest involved a series of serious violations of his fundamental due process rights, which included a sweeping gag-order on the case and the prohibition on meeting with his attorneys for 16 days. Throughout his interrogation by the General Security Services (GSS) and the court procedures, Dr. Saeed provided clear and unequivocal statements that he never worked on behalf of Hezbollah and that all of his political activities were transparent and legal.

More information on the cases of Dr. Omar Saeed and Ameer Makhoul.