The re-trial of Mahmoud Hijazi, an Arab infiltrator who was sentenced to death last year by an Israeli military court, but who won an appeal for a new hearing, began today.
Hijazi, a Jordanian living in Akaba, was captured in January, 1965; as a member of a group of saboteurs who tried to blow up a water tank in Lachish. On his first trial, he was found guilty of sabotage and firing on Israeli soldiers. An Israeli military appeals court ordered a new trial in response to the Arabs’s contention that he was not given enough time to obtain a foreign attorney. The issue went to several Israeli Justice Ministry officials and courts, which ruled against the demand.
When the new trial began, the defendant again asked for a foreign attorney to defend him. The prosecutor replied that there was no reason to discuss that demand which, he said, had been refused repeatedly by different authorities in Israel.
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