Israeli Supreme Court Hears Adalah’s Petition against Disqualification of Attorney Jamal Aghbariya from Tel’at ‘Ara Regional Council Elections

On 10 October 2013, the Supreme Court of Israel held a hearing on a petition filed by Adalah against the decision of the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee (CEC), Justice Saleem Joubran, to disqualify Attorney Jamal Aghbariya from the elections to the Tel’at ‘Ara Regional Council. The court is expected to issue its decision early next week.

During the hearing, the State Attorney focused her arguments on offenses that Mr. Aghbariya has been convicted of, namely participation in an illegal assembly and assaulting a police officer, contending that the offenses are grave in nature, and therefore he is ineligible to run for public office.

Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Fady Khoury represented Mr. Aghbariya before the court. Attorney Jabareen challenged the State Attorney’s position, arguing that: “The discussion over the gravity of the offenses is marginal at this stage, since Mr. Aghbariya has now completed his sentence [four months of community service].” Adalah emphasized that, “The central question, which the State Attorney has ignored, is whether or not Mr. Aghbariya’s candidacy harms the moral standing of the local authority.” Further, “The offenses of which Mr. Aghbariya was convicted occurred during public action against the demolition of a house in his village. In addition, Mr. Aghbariya has an otherwise clean criminal record, which indicates that he is competent to stand in the local elections.”

The petitioners added that Attorney Aghbariya’s otherwise clean record demonstrates that the offense he was convicted of was uncharacteristic and unrepresentative of his general conduct. Even the court that convicted him stated in the decision that Attorney Aghbariya was a law-abiding person, known for his public and voluntary work in his village and in the villages of Tel’at ‘Ara generally.

The CEC Chair disqualified Mr. Aghbariya because of his 2009 conviction finding that these offenses fell within the legal category of offenses of moral turpitude”. According to the law governing elections for local and regional councils, a candidate may be disqualified from standing for public office if a sentence received is over three months of community service at the discretion of the CEC Chair.

Adalah argued that the offenses of which Mr. Aghbariya was convicted could not be automatically classified as crimes of moral turpitude, as is the case, for example, with bribery or corruption, and were of a less grave nature. In addition, Adalah stressed that this decision should be made based on the circumstances at the moment that the offense was committed; it should also be made on an assessment of whether the person committing the offense is morally fit to hold public office.

Adalah argued that the CEC's decision should be overturned and that Mr. Aghbariya should be given the opportunity to run in the elections, and the electorate given the right to choose whether or not to elect him.