The military tribunal assigned to try the 10 Arab terrorists captured in an Israeli raid into Lebanon last September rejected yesterday a defense argument that the tribunal had no Jurisdiction in the case.
The defense had argued that since the terrorists had been captured outside of Israel and had not carried out any hostile actions in Israel, they could not be tried in Israel. The military court cited previous precedents, advice from international law experts and similar precedents outside of Israel.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on July 18 that Prosecutor Dan Ben Ner had rejected an earlier similar argument by the defense, declaring that the question of where the terrorists were captured and how they were brought to court was irrelevant. He said that in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, it had been ruled that the court was dealing with the charges and not on the manner in which the defendant had been brought to the court.
After the tribunal rejected the defense argument yesterday, the 10 terrorists pleaded not guilty to charges of membership in hostile organizations and training for acts of sabotage against Israel’s security. The trial was postponed for a month pending an appeal to the Israel Supreme Court.
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