Mohammad El Halabi

Mohammad El Halabi (born 1978) is a Palestinian aid worker and former manager for World Vision International in Palestine who was convicted of diverting funds to Hamas.

In June 2022, he was found guilty of membership of a terrorist organization, financing terrorist activities, transmitting information to an enemy entity, and criminal possession of a weapon. Significant controversy has been raised over the nature and validity of his convictions due to, in part, the use of secret evidence in the ruling.

Independent auditors and the Australian government have found "no evidence of wrongdoing or diversion of funds" from World Vision, which has stated that it would appeal.

After his arrest, Halabi's lawyer, Muhammad Mahmoud, stated that his client has nothing to do with Hamas and that the fact that the investigation had lasted 55 days proved that there were problems with the evidence. The NGO further claimed that before 2014, El Halabi's managerial level would have capped his signing authority at $15,000 according to the organization's accountability processes.

The court's decision "did not describe the diversion of any financial aid to Hamas", but rejected World Vision's assertion of strong controls over its own finances. The court also considered "secret evidence" including an alleged confession based on the testimony of another prisoner that was obtained under duress, according to Halabi's lawyer.

Controversy

As the trial dragged on, the Israeli government came under increasing international pressure to resolve the case and bring the aid worker's indeterminate detention to an end. Halabi has continued to insist that he is innocent, and refused multiple plea deal offers over the years. The defense noted in February 2022: "The facts are very clear and the case should have been dropped a long time ago … but the Israelis need to find a face-saving way out since Mohammed refused a plea deal."

According to Michael Omer-Man, director of research at Democracy for the Arab World Now, Halabi's charges include treason despite him being from Gaza and neither an Israeli citizen nor resident. Halabi's lawyers Maher Hanna and Jonathan Kuttab have noted that the trial is also partly reliant on 'secret evidence' that has been withheld from observers. Hanna and Kuttab described the persuasiveness of the material as "embarrassing".

By July 2021, the court proceedings against Halabi had been running for five years without conclusion or the materialization of a credible body of evidence, despite a cumulative 165 court sessions, a count that had risen to 167 by March 2022. A 90-day extension of the trial was approved on 22 February 2022.

Wafa, the official news agency run by the Palestinian National Authority, stated that the case was the longest trial in the history of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.

After the court's guilty verdict in 2022, the EU tweeted: "According to OHCHR, the verdict is deeply problematic as it is based on secret evidence, with the defendant having been detained for 6 years without a verdict. This is inconsistent with international fair trial standards. Without a fair and due process, justice for Halabi cannot be served."