Israel affirms right to try Canadian

Jamal Akkal, 23, is accused of being a Hamas militant

Toronto Star | Dec. 30, 2003. 11:12 AM

CANADIANPRESS

JERUSALEM - An Israeli military court in the Gaza Strip today threw out a
precedent setting challenge to its authority to try a Palestinian-born
Canadian charged in an alleged plot to kill Jews in North America.

Military Judge Vered Orenstein accepted the prosecutor's argument that the
court had the power to try Jamal Akkal, 23, a former Gazan resident.

Israeli Defence Force prosecutors accused Akkal of receiving unlawful
military training by a terrorist organization whose acts endanger the lives
and security of Gazan residents in areas under Israeli military
jurisdiction.

Akkal's lawyer, Jamil Khatib, had argued that the court had no authority to
try a Canadian citizen on charges of conspiracy when the plot was reputedly
planned outside the territories and intended for execution in Canada and
the United States.

Israeli authorities claim the plan was for Akkal to kill Canadian and
American Jews and an Israeli personality visiting the United States.

Akkal has been remanded in custody until the end of legal proceedings and
is interned in the Shikma security jail near the Mediterranean city of
Ashkelon.

Khatib told The Canadian Press that he has petitioned the Military Court of
Appeals north of Jerusalem, but said he had little hope that it will rule
against Tuesday's decision by the court in Gaza.

If that appeal fails, a date must then be set for Akkal's trial.

Akkal has said the charges against him are false, while his lawyer has said
the alleged conspiracy as laid out by the prosecution would fail outside
the jurisdiction of a military court.

Akkal was born and raised in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. He
moved to Canada in 1999, where he later obtained citizenship, his lawyer
said.

Akkal lived in Windsor, Ont., and was arrested Nov. 1 while visiting Gaza.
Khatib says his client went to Gaza to get engaged to a cousin, Shayema,
17, also of the Nusseirat refugee camp.

He is charged with unlawful military training by the "terrorist
organization" Hamas - firing eight bullets from an M-16 assault rifle and
assembling and detonating an explosive. Israeli authorities say such acts
endanger the lives and security of Gazan residents in an area under the
military court's jurisdiction.

Hamas has been held responsible for most of the more than 100 suicide
bombings against Israelis during the last three years of the Palestinian
uprising against Israeli rule.