Father charged for murdering two daughters, kidnapping brother-in-law

Beersheba District Court receives indictment against resident of Beduin village of al-Fura Ali Amatriat.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Beduin man rides a horse in al-Arakib 311 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
A Beduin man rides a horse in al-Arakib 311 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
The Southern District Attorney’s Office on Monday filed an indictment with the Beersheba District Court against Ali Amatriat for the murder of his two daughters, aged two and three years old.
Amatriat, a resident of the Beduin village of al-Fura, fled police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for over a month before his arrest, and was found hiding on the roof of an abandoned building in a remote area of the Negev near the Dead Sea.
After a month on the run, Amatriat was exhausted; without food, water or a cell phone; and wearing the same clothes he was last seen wearing when he fled al-Fura in late May, police said.
Amatriat was accused of strangling the two girls, Asinad and Rimas, on May 21.
The murders came only a day after the man’s ex-wife, Abir Amatriat, a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, filed a complaint with Arad Police stating that he posed a clear and present danger to the lives of their children.
According to the indictment, he hid from police for around a month-and-a-half, and was only caught after an extensive police manhunt. It alleges that Amatriat kidnapped the brother of his wife, who was already separated from him, before demanding that she send him the children.
Amatriat’s brother Ahmad Amatriat assisted him with the kidnapping and also hid Amatriat after the murders, the indictment stated.
Both Amatriat and his brother are charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, kidnapping for purposes of extortion and other crimes.
Amatriat is also charged with the two murders.
The prosecution has requested to hold both defendants in police custody until the end of the proceedings.
Negligence in fielding the complaint led Insp.-Gen.Yochanan Danino to order the dismissal of the commander of the Arad Police and two of his deputies.
Southern District Cmdr. Yoram Halevy described the “nerve-wracking, around-theclock” hunt for Amatriat as “an unusual, extraordinarily difficult manhunt after a dangerous suspect hiding in open fields, caves and ravines.”
Halevy added that the arrest was not cause for celebration, and that police must still work quietly and with determination in a “professionally modest” way in order to assemble evidence for an indictment.
Ben Hartman contributed to this report.