The trial of Mahmoud Atallah, a convicted terrorist who is accused of rape in the Gilboa Prison “pimping affair,” began on Sunday in the Nazareth District Court.
Last September, nearly six years after the initial allegations, the prosecution indicted Atallah for raping a soldier and performing indecent acts against another.
Indictments were also filed against Bassam Kashkush, the commander of Gilboa Prison at the time, and former prison intelligence officer Rani Basha for breach of trust and failure to fulfill an official duty. Their trials are scheduled to begin in December.
Atallah had been serving a life sentence plus 15 years in prison for the murder of a Palestinian woman suspected of collaborating with Israel.
The current case concerns sexual assaults he committed from 2014 until 2017 at the behest of Basha, who had placed the soldiers in his wing. The first complaint was issued in 2017, and the allegations were revealed by journalist Liran Levi.
Following the complaint, Atallah was questioned. The prosecution surmised at the time that there was not enough evidence to file an indictment against the Israel Prison Service officers in charge, and the case against them was closed in July 2020.
In 2021, the commander of Gilboa Prison at the time, Lt.-Gen. Freddy Ben-Sheetrit, testified before a governmental committee investigating the escape of prisoners. In his testimony under oath, he said a person familiar with the pimping scandal had told him it did take place. That December, State Attorney Amit Isman ordered the investigation to reopen.
Atallah’s name was added to the list of security prisoners to be released in the second hostage deal during the Israel-Hamas War. According to the government’s decision, he was expected to be released to his home in Nablus. Following the reopening of the investigation, he was removed from the list and replaced by another prisoner.
Committee's 2022 recommendation
In December 2022, the governmental committee recommended that soldiers should no longer be used as guards in prisons. The change in policy came into effect last December.
One of the female soldiers who was sexually assaulted by Atallah, and is expected to testify in the trial, on Sunday said she had mixed emotions, “because this opportunity was almost lost” had Atallah been released.
“I am happy that we reached this stage of things where the truth can come out,” she told Ynet. “It was a long journey.”