Alleged security guard murder accomplices get bail

Central District Court releases on bail accomplices of Kfar Kasim resident accused of murdering Lior Farhi.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Handcuffs arrest police crime illustrative 390 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Handcuffs arrest police crime illustrative 390
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
The Central District Court on Sunday released on bail the accomplices of a Kfar Kasim resident accused of murdering Yishuv Sha’arei Tikva security guard Lior Farhi.
Hamad Perigaal Badui and Rushdie Raba’a were already out of full police custody and only under house arrest.
Sunday’s ruling meant that they no longer had general restrictions on movement, although they were still prohibited from leaving the country and had to deposit NIS 10,000 and sign a commitment for another NIS 25,000 to the court to guarantee their attendance at court hearings and compliance with court rulings.
The state had argued that because Badui and Raba’a are accused of helping Arka’an Badir, the main defendant in the case, of trying to obstruct the investigation, they were likely to try to continue to obstruct the investigation if freed from house arrest.
While recognizing Badui and Raba’a’s prior conduct as significant, the court eventually held that, in order to maintain them under house arrest for the whole case, the state would need to have demonstrated a concrete suspicion about current obstruction of justice, not just estimations about their general character.
The court also noted that unlike another accomplice Ala’a Sirsur, they were less involved in efforts to obstruct justice in the case.
The Central District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against Badir and the three accomplices on September 27. The indictment stated, among other things, that Badir had intentionally run over Farhi with a car while trying to escape capture for ferrying Palestinians illegally through the West Bank fence area. It also said that the other three defendants had tried to help Badir cover-up the crime after the fact.
In previous hearings, the state presented evidence that the other accomplice, Sirsur had spoken by telephone and in-person about how he would help cover-up Badir’s crime.
Sirsur’s plan was to claim that his car, the one Badir was driving when he ran over Farhi, had been stolen.
Sirsur even drove to the police station to file a false report to lead the police away from catching Farhi, only to be arrested upon his arrival at the station.
According to the state, Sirsur’s plan was a premeditated and well-planned cover-up, far graver than merely spontaneously lying to police about some facts during an interrogation.
In contrast, Badui and Raba’a were involved in driving Badir, but did not even know at first about Farhi’s death. When they learn of it they did not turn Badir in, but they also did not try to further assist him in obstructing the investigation.
According to the indictment, on September 9, Badir was waiting near the West Bank security barrier to shuttle Palestinians who had illegally breached and crossed through the fence to Kafr Kasim. Each passenger was due to pay Badir NIS 50 for ferrying him from the border fence.
Farhi and other security personnel were checking Palestinians’ documentation at the nearby checkpoint at the entrance from the West Bank to Israel.
The indictment alleges that Farhi and some of the personnel noticed Badir’s car waiting suspiciously next to a portion of the fence, which they correctly deduced had been breached.
They approached Badir, who had already loaded a number of Palestinians who were crossing through the breach in the fence illegally into his car.
When Badir saw the security forces approaching he started to pick up speed with the aim of evading capture, reaching 73 kilometers per hour.
Farhi blocked his path of escape and pointed his gun at Badir’s vehicle to force him to stop, the indictment said.
In response, Badir accelerated and continued in Farhi’s direction, eventually hitting him and sending him flying 64.5 meters.
Farhi was killed by the collision.
According to the indictment, Badir fled in his car in a bid to escape until he crashed into a road sign. Afterwards, Badir and his three Palestinian passengers continued their escape on foot.