Tali Fahima reaches plea bargain

Expected to serve a total three years in prison, and to be released in a year.

By DAN IZENBERG
tali fahima 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
tali fahima 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The state and Tali Fahima reached a plea bargain agreement that would enable her to leave jail in less than one year, prosecution and defense attorneys informed Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday. The court will decide whether or not to accept the deal. Fahima, who was arrested on August 8, 2004 after returning from an unauthorized visit to Jenin, has been in jail or administrative detention ever since, for 479 days. Her trial began on January 11. Fahima befriended Zakariya Zubeidi, head of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, during earlier visits to the West Bank town and refugee camp. She was charged with providing assistance to the enemy in wartime, delivering information to the enemy, being in contact with a foreign agent, supporting a terrorist organization and possessing weapons. According to the plea bargain deal, the state agreed to drop the most serious charge against her, assisting the enemy in wartime, as well as the charges of supporting a terrorist organization and possessing weapons. Fahima pleaded guilty to being in contact with a foreign agent, delivering information to the enemy and violating a legal order prohibiting the entry of Israelis into territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The sides also agreed that Fahima would be sentenced to three years in jail, from which all of the time she has been held in custody, except for the time she was held in administrative detention, would be deducted. She will also be entitled to a parole for good behavior after completing two-thirds of her sentence. "We succeeded in whittling down the original indictment as much as possible," Fahima's lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, told reporters. "Indeed, the main charges of assisting the enemy in wartime and support for a terrorist organization have been dismissed." Ben-Natan estimated that if all went well for her client she would be released in 11 months. State prosecutors said they regarded as very important the fact that Fahima had confessed to some of the crimes she was originally charged with, and that she would receive a severe punishment.