Palestinian Nour Tamimi released on bail

Israeli court releases Palestinian woman on bail after appearing in a video slapping Israeli soldiers that went viral.

Palestinian Ahed al-Tamimi''s family appear in Court
Nour Tamimi, 20, was arrested after confronting Israeli soldiers with her cousin, Ahed [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu]

Nour Tamimi, a 20-year-old Palestinian charged with assaulting an Israeli soldier after the release of a viral video of the incident last month, has been released on bail.

Nour and her cousin, prominent 16-year-old activist Ahed Tamimi, were filmed slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

The video of the December 15 confrontation outside the Tamimi’s home in the village of Nabi Saleh was widely shared on social media. A few days later, the two cousins, along with Ahed’s mother, were arrested by Israeli forces.

On Friday, Nour’s father, Najm Tamimi, told AFP news agency that an Israeli military court had rejected the prosecution’s appeal against his daughter’s release, allowing her to return home after posting a bail of 5,000 shekels ($1,450), 

The 21-year-old, who studies journalism at Al Quds University, will have to sign in at an Israeli police station every Friday at noon.

She was charged on Sunday with aggravated assault and disturbing soldiers from carrying out their duties.

Court proceedings against her are set to begin on February 12.

Ahed Tamimi, meanwhile, remains in custody along with her mother, Nariman.

The teenager, a prominent activist in Nabi Saleh, faces 12 charges, including aggravated assault and throwing stones, while her mother faces five charges, including incitement for uploading the video on social media. 

According to their lawyer, Ahed and Nariman’s charges include older incidents unrelated to the video.

The incident

The video went viral and spurred an Israeli social-media campaign demanding the arrest of Ahed, a member of a family of well-known activists in Nabi Saleh.

Nour also appeared in the video. Following the arrests, Israeli authorities summoned Bassem for interrogations and questioned him for two hours about the video.

According to Ahed’s father, Bassem Tamimi, the teen and Nour were attempting to push the soldiers away from their home in the video after their 15-year-old cousin Mohammad was struck point-blank in the face with a rubber bullet, which left him in a coma for 72 hours.

Bassem also said that the video was shot immediately after Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters directly at their home.

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He said the girls were trying to protect their family.

“Ahed was telling the soldiers to get away from our home,” he told Al Jazeera at the time of the arrest.

“She was trying to force them to leave to prevent the soldiers from hurting anyone else.”

A hearing is scheduled for January 8.


Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies

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