A political prosecution? Inside the trial of Rasmea Odeh
This report, which includes a radio interview, discusses the criminal trial of Rasmea Odeh for allegedly giving false answers on her application for citizenship, which she was granted in 2004. The questions she is alleged to have answered falsely concerned her criminal record.
Odeh was convicted by an Israeli military court in 1969 for her role in a series of bombings that led to the death of two civilians. She spent ten years in an Israeli prison. Odeh denies her involvement and says she was forced to confess after weeks of brutal torture in Israeli custody.
On Monday, a jury found Odeh guilty of the charges. She faces up to ten years in prison and the loss of her US citizenship. Odeh’s attorney is quoted as saying that she plans to appeal.
Odeh supporters say she confessed to the crime under torture—and US officials were well aware of her background through the immigration process. A spokesman for Odeh said that she even testified about her experience before the United Nations. “She was a very well-known political prisoner.” “So it’s disingenuous for the United States to then say, 20 years later, that she lied on her application.”
The district court did not allow the defense to submit any evidence that she had been tortured. Supporters claim that Odeh is a victim of selective prosecution because of her activism on behalf of Palestinian and women’s causes.
KJ