JERUSALEM: Israel’s highest court Tuesday rejected an appeal against extradition to Australia of Malka Leifer, a former Jewish ultra-Orthodox school principal accused of sexual abuse of many of her pupils there.
“With the issuance of our judgment, all the arguments are closed and the declaration of extradition takes final effect,” said the Supreme Court ruling, published by the justice ministry.
Leifer is accused of child sex abuse while she was a teacher and principal at an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne, where she had emigrated from her native Israel.
According to Australian media, she faces 74 counts of child sex abuse against girls.
After allegations against her surfaced in Australia in 2008, Leifer and her family left for Israel and moved to the Emmanuel settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The court noted the years in which Australia’s extradition request had been bogged down in Israeli courts.
“More than six years have passed since a request was filed in the Jerusalem district court to declare the appellant extradited to Australia,” it said in its Hebrew-language ruling.
Since then, it continued, “there is no proceeding that the appellant has not taken” to prevent her extradition.
Extradition agreements signed by Israel “must be respected and anyone seeking to flee justice will not find sanctuary in Israel,” it said.
Israel court allows extradition of sex abuse suspect to Australia
https://arab.news/5w58e
Israel court allows extradition of sex abuse suspect to Australia
- Malka Leifer is accused of child sex abuse while she was a teacher and principal at an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne
Tunisian police clash with youths in Kairouan after man’s death
- Tunisia President Kais Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021 in what he called a move to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement, but which the opposition called a coup
TUNIS: Clashes erupted for a second night on Saturday between police and youths in the central Tunisian city of Kairouan after a man died following a police chase, according to his family, fueling authorities’ fears that protests could spread across the country. As Tunisia prepares to mark the January anniversary of the 2011 revolution, which sparked the Arab Spring uprising, tensions have risen amid protests, and a powerful UGTT union call for a nationwide strike next month. Thousands have been protesting for weeks in the southern city of Gabes, demanding the closure of a chemical plant on environmental grounds.
Witnesses said demonstrators in Kairouan threw stones, petrol bombs and flares, and blocked streets by burning tires, prompting police to disperse crowds with tear gas.
The family said the man, riding a motorcycle without a license, was chased by police, beaten, and taken to a hospital. He later fled and died on Friday from a head injury.
The government was not immediately available to comment. Relatives of the deceased said they will not remain silent and will spark major protests if those responsible are not held accountable.
In a bid to defuse tensions, Kairouan’s governor visited the family on Saturday evening and pledged to open an investigation to determine the circumstances of the death and establish accountability, witnesses said.
Tunisia President Kais Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021 in what he called a move to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement, but which the opposition called a coup.
Rights groups accuse Saied of using the judiciary and police to stifle criticism, something that Saied denies.
