Historic day for the Spanish aid worker Juana Ruiz. Between emotion and joy, he greeted his daughter María at the court hearing that this Wednesday, November 17, confirmed his sentence to 13 months in prison and a 14,000-euro fine after reaching a plea agreement in two crimes: working for an illegal organization and illegally bringing money into the country. “She is well into the situation. There it is, holding on“, has claimed his daughter, Maria.
The 63-year-old humanitarian worker resides in the Palestinian territories occupied since the 1980s and Israel applies military law to her, as does the rest of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Ruiz, detained in April by the Israeli state, has already served seven of the 13-month sentence in prison, so she will only have to serve another six and pay half the fine to get out of prison.
“This is the end of this nightmare, the knowledge, at least, that it is already over after seven months of uncertainty,” said María. The Israeli military court that has issued the sentence has ruled out the charges that linked the Spanish aid worker to the diversion of funds from the NGO in which she worked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP, for its acronym in English), an organization that considers itself a terrorist.
Precisely, for Avigdor Feldman, defense attorney, the court makes it “very clear that the defendant is not involved in passing money to the PFLP“. For this reason, they are going to demand a rectification from the Israeli Government, which days ago insisted on this issue again by linking Juana with the movement of that money.” My mother has been lied to, manipulated and defamed, “the daughter denounced by Juana Ruiz when we have the information.
In fact, for the family of the aid worker, Juana has become a scapegoat. Their case has been used, as they have lamented, to criminalize humanitarian work: “She is very clear that she has not done anything of which she was accused.” Thus, they will ask Juana to leave earlier, but they do not trust that it will be granted. Therefore, their release is expected next May.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
