Israel’s Ofer military court on Thursday extended for an additional five days the remand of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier.
Ahed Tamimi’s mother Nariman who was also featured in the widely shared video had her remand similarly extended until Monday. The military court judge ordered that Ahed’s cousin Nour — the third family member in the video — be released for 48 hours and pay a bail of $1400.
The Military Advocate General who requested longer remands for Ahed Nour and Nariman said that the prosecution intends on filing indictments for each of them.
Regarding Ahed’s case the Military Advocate General cited a number of incidents which he said his office was taking into account in the indictments being formed against the 16-year-old that will be announced next week.
In several incidents mentioned over the past two years Ahed Tamimi was alleged to have thrown rocks at soldiers assaulted them spit at them and obstructed soldiers from carrying out an arrest.
Footage from the December 15 encounter in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh shows Ahed and Nour approaching two Israeli soldiers before shoving kicking and slapping them.
Ahed the primary suspect of the case has been accused of “assaulting a soldier harming the security of the area incitement and other felonies” according to court documents.
In her version of the incident shared in front of the court during a hearing last month Ahed said that the same soldiers featured in the video had shot her cousin in the head with a rubber bullet an hour prior to the filmed encounter. “Then I saw the same soldiers who hit my cousin this time in front of my house. I could not keep quiet and I responded as I did” the 16-year-old testified.
Palestinian lawyer Osama al-Saadi and MK Ahmed al-Tibi who attended the hearing said Ahed and her mother were kidnapped four days after the footage had gone viral which is an indication of the harassment and crackdowns they have been subjected to at the hands of the occupation forces.
“The Israelis have lost their temper due to a slap on a soldier’s face. However none of them has paid a heed to the crime perpetrated by Israel’s military forces who shot Ahed’s relative in the head” they added.
