Last update - 00:00 07/01/2008
Second PFLP man found guilty of murder for Ze'evi assassination
By Ofra Idelman, Haaretz Correspondent
Jerusalem District Court convicted a second Palestinian militant Monday of murder for his role in the 2001 assassination of former minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
Bassel Asmar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was also convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and several counts of attempted murder for placing car bombs and explosive devices in Jerusalem in 2001.
Last month, the court convicted PFLP member Hamdi Qur'an was convicted of the 2001 murder and other terror activities, sentencing him to two life terms and an additional 100 years in prison.
In the fall of 2001, Asmar and Qur'an ambushed the 75-year-old minister when he returned to his room at the Jerusalem Hyatt hotel.
According to their plan, Qur'an was to shoot the minister, while Asmar's role was to shoot Ze'evi's bodyguard, should he be accompanied by one. The two waited for Ze'evi in the emergency exit stairwell. When Ze'evi arrived, Qur'an shot him, and then both fled the scene through the emergency exit.
The court rejected the defense argument that Asmar was just an accessory to murder, saying he was "a full partner both in the planning phase and in implementation." The court ruled that Asmar worked closely with Qur'an to "implement these crimes."
The court pointed out that "the defendant even said that he was jealous of Defendant No. 1 [Qur'an], who won glory due to the fact that he was the one who shot Minister Ze'evi."
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