JERUSALEM (JTA) — A teenage Palestinian girl and her mother were ordered held without bail until the end of legal proceedings against them for slapping and harassing Israeli soldiers standing guard in a West Bank Palestinian village.
A military judge approved the prosecution’s request in the case against Ahed Tamimi, 16, and her mother, Nariman, on Wednesday in Ofer Military Court in the West Bank.
Ahed Tamimi was charged at the beginning of January with aggravated assault, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, incitement, threatening a soldier’s life and rock throwing. The indictment covers six incidents in recent months in which she was involved in altercations with Israeli soldiers, including the Dec. 15 incident that was captured on video and went viral on social media.
Her mother, Nariman, was indicted over her involvement in that incident, in which she films Ahed with a cellphone camera calling on her fellow Palestinians to stab Israelis, throw rocks at them and offer themselves as suicide bombers in order to “liberate Palestine.” Nariman Tamimi also was charged with incitement to terrorism on Facebook for posting the video of the incident.
Human rights organizations in Israel and around the world have criticized Israel for arresting the teen. The arrest occurred in the middle of the night, about a week after the incident.
The Tamimis are well-known anti-occupation activists. Israeli troops shot a male cousin, 15, in the face with a rubber bullet, and for several days he was in a medically induced coma. The family says the incident prompted the teen to push the soldiers away from in front of the family home in the Dec. 15 episode.
Ahed Tamimi is well known as a leader of youth protests against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. She first came to prominence after being filmed several years ago biting a soldier who came to arrest her brother at their home following a weekly Nabi Saleh anti-occupation protest.
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