Jailed Anti-ISIS Israeli Facing Death Penalty for Killing Taxi Driver in Arab Country
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A dual Israeli and Canadian citizen who joined a militia in an unnamed Arab country to fight the Islamic State is being held in prison there and could face the death penalty.
The Jewish man, Ben Hassin, 21, is the son of an Israeli father and a mother who has lived in Canada for 30 years. He has been under arrest since June 2015 in the Arab country for the murder of a taxi driver, who he shot after the cabbie threatened to kill him for being Jewish and Israeli, according to reports citing Hassin’s father, Ilan, of Tel Aviv.
Ilan Hassin told the local media that his son went to visit his grandparents in the Arab country and while there decided to enlist in the fight against ISIS with a local militia.
Israel’s deputy minister for regional cooperation, Ayoub Kara of the Likud party, told the daily Haaretz that Hassin was to be executed for the murder after he had been in jail for a year and a half. Kara, who first learned of the situation in November, said he was able to have the execution canceled, as long as the family pays a $120,000 ransom.
Kara said he asked Israel’s military censor to allow Hassin’s story to go public, so the family can raise money for the ransom. The ransom must be paid by Sunday, according to Ilan Hassin.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also is involved in efforts to get Hassin released.
Ben Hassin reportedly has been tortured in prison, his father told Israeli media.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
