Daniel Timerman, 31-year-old son of the former Argentine publisher and human rights activist Jacobo Timerman, was sentenced by a military court to 35 days in jail for refusing to serve with the Israeli army in Lebanon for reasons of conscience.
A military spokesman confirmed the sentence yesterday but declined to comment further. It was the younger Timerman’s second jail sentence in seven months for refusing military duty in Lebanon. He was jailed for 28 days last October. More than 35 other Israeli soldiers have been sentenced to jail terms for the same reason since Israel invaded Lebanon last June.
Jacobo Timerman, once editor and publisher of a leading Buenos Aires daily, La Opinion, was arrested in 1977 and imprisoned for 29 months for opposing the military junta that ruled Argentina and exposing the “disappearances” of thousands of other political opponents. He was released in 1979, stripped of citizenship and deported after his property, including the newspaper, was confiscated by the government.
Daniel Timerman immigrated to Israel with his father that year. Both strongly opposed the war in Lebanon.
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