Guilty verdict against World Vision hero is a travesty of justice

Six years after Palestinian World Vision aid worker Mohammad el-Halabi was charged with transferring the organisation’s humanitarian funds to a “terrorist organisation”, this innocent man has been found guilty by a court in Israel. The verdict overnight announces the demise of the rule of law in Israeli courts.

As one of the judges, in the early days of this drawn-out trial, told el-Halabi Mohammad in open court:“This case is not about innocence. You know how these cases go.” And that is the way 99 per cent of Palestinians who go before Israel military courts are convicted.

Amro el-Halabi, 7, holds a picture of his father, Mohammed, who was the Gaza director of World Vision, now found guilty of diverting sums to Hamas that exceed its total budget.Credit: AP/Adel Hana

The guilty verdict was reached despite no substantial evidence being presented to support the charges laid against el-Halabi, the former director of the World Vision aid organisation in Gaza, diverting humanitarian resources to terrorist groups. The only thing his case has evidenced is the way the system is designed to ensure the conviction of Palestinians.

On June 17, 2016, el-Halabi was detained by Israeli authorities while he was crossing back into Gaza at the official border. Almost six years later to the day, late on Wednesday night Australian time, the guilty verdict was handed down.

This case was never grounded in any reality. The allegation of $50m stolen alone is incompatible with the reality of a $22 million total budget.

Contrary to the Israeli government’s claims of respect for the rule of law, the conduct of this trial demonstrates a fundamental disregard for the core principles of a fair trial and the overarching political objective which is to strictly control humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Some key facts about el-Halabi’s case:

• He was detained without charge and interrogated for 50 days without access to legal representation, allegedly subject to torture in efforts to extract a confession.
• His defence team was denied access to the full evidence brief throughout the proceedings.
• He appeared more than 180 times in court over five years, in deliberately drawn-out proceedings that required repeated extensions of standard periods of detention.
• His defence team was given only four hours to present its closing arguments, while the prosecution was given one and a half days. Then the defence was directed to put its case in a written submission of a maximum of 20 pages.
• The verdict has been pending for nine months since the court adjourned in October.

Most damning of all, not a shred of evidence was presented to substantiate the key charges.

None of the three audits – by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which funded much of World Vision’s humanitarian work in Gaza, by World Vision internally and by one of the top global four professional services companies – found evidence of any diversion of resources, whether material or financial. The latter, the most comprehensive audit, only found clear evidence of el-Halabi taking considered action to reduce risks of militant groups gaining access to humanitarian resources.

Mohammad el-Halabi was the Gaza program manager for World Vision. He was widely respected within the charity, by the local community and by partner agencies, including donor government representatives and the UN.

Conny Lenneberg, co-author of this article and an Australian who worked as a World Vision regional director, travelled to Gaza with el-Halabi on many occasions to monitor the projects, part of the rigorous controls that exist in these contexts to ensure that humanitarian work reaches the intended beneficiaries.

El-Halabi was recognised by the UN as a humanitarian hero for the calibre of his leadership and commitment to the international humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

World Vision International maintained its support of el-Halabi, including funding his legal defence, and said it would continue to do so until credible evidence was presented. It is still waiting and remains convinced, as we are, of his innocence.

The only plausible explanation for this case is that it was always about the politics of humanitarian aid in Gaza. The conviction rate of 99 per cent of Palestinians in the Israeli justice system speaks to the political imperative of convicting Palestinians for security offences against the state of Israel.

This case was only ever about discrediting humanitarian work in Gaza. Before el-Halabi’s trial had begun, Benjamin Netanyahu, the then-prime minister of Israel, released a video saying money had been stolen from World Vision and the UN and sent to Hamas, as if it was already established as fact.

Security considerations have been invoked throughout the trial to justify not sharing evidence and presenting it in closed court. A guilty verdict based on no evidence to substantiate these very serious charges is not only a grave injustice for Mohammad el-Halabi, it is also an attack on the principles of humanitarian aid itself and undermines the Israeli government’s claim to the independent rule of law.

Tim Costello is executive director of Micah Australia and former chief executive of World Vision Australia; Conny Lenneberg is a former regional director for World Vision International in the Middle East.