Italian lawyers warn of rights violations against Palestinians facing terror charges

Middle East Eye

09-04-2025

Italian lawyers have warned about violations of due process after a preliminary hearing in L'Aquila for the case of three Palestinians facing accusations of terrorism.
The three men, Anan Kamal Afif Yaeesh, Mansour Doghmosh and Ali Irar, were living in the central Italian city, northeast of Rome, when they were arrested.
They are accused of setting up a cell linked to Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group associated with the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah party.
Authorities claim they were planning attacks "against civilian and military targets on foreign territory".
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the EU and the US and the charges the trio face carry sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment.
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But the men's lawyers say the preliminary hearing, which in Italy determines which evidence is admissible, included serious violations of due process.
They reported that the court refused their request to exclude transcripts of interrogations of Palestinian prisoners conducted by Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet as evidence.
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That was despite the transcripts previously being deemed inadmissible by another judge.
The defence said in a press release that the move constitutes a violation of the men's right to defence, as the witnesses could not be cross examined by the defence.
Article 111 of the Italian constitution stipulates that: "The defendant shall have the right to cross-examine or to have cross-examined before a judge the persons making accusations and to summon and examine persons for the defence in the same conditions as the prosecution."
The lawyers further highlighted that Palestinian detainees are subjected to multiple abuses during interrogations by Israeli forces, including torture and denial of legal access, in violation of Italian law.
"The court has pretended there are no problems," lawyer Flavio Rossi Albertini told Middle East Eye.
"The judges have shown that they do not want anything to emerge from the trial that would lead to unfavourable judgements against Israel".
Witnesses rejected
The court also rejected 46 out of 49 witnesses proposed by the defence, including UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, international humanitarian law experts, aid workers and volunteers involved in projects in the occupied West Bank.
The only three witnesses admitted by the court were all drawn from the list relating to a single defendant, including an Italian volunteer, the defendant's wife and a linguistic consultant, denying any possibility of defence to the other two defendants.
Defence lawyers highlighted that the only testimony about the situation in the occupied West Bank is being provided by Italy's state police anti-terrorism unit, Digos.
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According to Albertini, this will obscure crucial context about the nature of Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank, where settlers often conduct attacks against Palestinians under military protection.
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, however, Israeli civilians living in unlawful settlements in the occupied territory do not lose their civilian protections under the laws of war.
When settlers actively take part in hostilities, however, they lose their immunity from attack and become legitimate military targets.
"The court thinks it can judge Palestinians for acts committed in the West Bank, through testimonies provided by the Italian police," he said.
"We are talking about a small town in Abruzzo, 100km from Rome in the middle of the mountains. According to the judges, the local police are the only ones able to describe what is happening in the West Bank".
Albertini said the court's decisions were unprecedented in his legal experience.
"I haven't seen a court reject the evidence presented by the defence before, nor have I seen a court admit evidence produced in another country," he said.
According to Albertini, it is unlikely the men will face extradition if charged.
In March, an Italian appeals court rejected an Israel extradition request for one of the defendants, Yaeesh, arguing that he would face "acts constituting a violation of human rights" if the request were granted.