Youssef Yaakub Roffah, a 43-year-old Arab receptionist at a Jerusalem hotel, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment and to an additional three years suspended sentence on charges that he was in the service of Arab terrorists who planned to kidnap a top Israeli security official. Roffah, who was sentenced last Thursday by a military tribunal in Lod, confessed to the charges.
According to the prosecution, he had also relayed information to the terrorists about a top security official who was living in the hotel. The terrorists planned to kidnap the security official and hold him hostage until Israel released Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, currently serving a Jail sentence for aiding terrorists.
Another charge against Roffah was that he recruited drivers for cars carrying explosives. The court handed down a relatively light sentence, taking into consideration Roffah’s cooperation in the investigation and the fact that he is the father of six children. He is a resident of Beth Hanina near Jerusalem.
The tribunal also ordered the detention of Amjied Omari, 20, of Kalandia, who is suspected of placing an explosive charge near a Jerusalem bus station. He was injured when a bomb he planned to place in another public place exploded in his hands last June.
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