A Palestinian teenager, Ahed Tamimi who was detained after a viral video showed her hitting two Israeli soldiers has reached a plea deal with prosecutors to serve eight months in jail, her lawyer stated on Wednesday.
Tamimi was 16 at the time of the December incident. She has since turned 17.
Her sentence would include a fine of 5,000 shekels ($1,430, 1,166 euros) including time served, said Lasky, meaning she could be released in the summer.
“She would plead guilty to only four of the 12 charges against her under the agreement, including assault, incitement and two counts of obstructing soldiers.” Lasky said.
Lasky, however, said she only planned to present the plea bargain to the military court if it first accepts an agreement with Tamimi’s mother, Nariman Tamimi.
A plea deal for Nariman Tamimi would also be for eight months in jail including time served, along with a 6,000-shekel fine, she said.
The court was expected to decide on the matter later Wednesday, according to Lasky.
In the same case, Tamimi’s cousin Nour Tamimi had her plea deal approved that saw her go free earlier that day, the lawyer said.
The 20-year-old was charged with assault of a soldier and sentenced to 16 days already served after her arrest and fined 2,000 shekels.
Both Ahed Tamimi and her mother were ordered held in custody throughout their trials, while Nour Tamimi had been freed on bail.
As emotions ran high in the court on Wednesday, an activist slapped one of the prosecutors in the head as he was leaving before being restrained, an AFP journalist reported.
Ahed Tamimi has been hailed as a hero by Palestinians who see her as bravely standing up to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The court ordered the trial closed because Ahed was being tried as a minor, as is usual in such cases.
“When they decided to keep her trial behind closed doors, we knew that we were not going to get a fair trial,” Lasky told AFP in describing her reasons for seeking a plea bargain.
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