Report: Criminal who raped, murdered teen boy in 1989 due to be released as part of Gaza deal
A Palestinian prisoner convicted of the 1989 rape and murder of an Israeli teenager is set to be released from prison as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, the Haaretz daily reports, despite the court ruling at the time that the crime was not an act of terrorism.
In April 1989, 13-year-old Oren Baharami, from Bat Yam in central Israel, was lured to an abandoned room in the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa by Gaza resident Ahmed Mahmed Jameel Shahada.
Shahada and an accomplice then raped and murdered the teen and left his body in the monastery, where it was found days later.
The murder was deemed to have been criminally motivated, meaning that it was not an act of terror carried out for nationalistic reasons, and Shahada was sentenced to life in prison.
Despite not being charged with terrorism, Haaretz reports that Shahada was deemed eligible for release under the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, which will see 250 Palestinian security prisoners walk free in exchange for the 48 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza.
The report notes that on the list of prisoners to be freed, Shahada is the only prisoner without any known link to a terror organization.
Speaking to the news outlet, Baharami’s mother says she is struggling to understand the decision to release her son’s murderer.
“The murder wasn’t recognized as terrorism, and over the years, no one ever updated us,” she tells Haaretz. “It takes my breath away.”