Posted on 08/08/2002 5:23:02 AM PDT by FreeReporting
Thursday, August 08, 2002 Av 30, 5762 Israel Time: 15:09 (GMT+3)
Ha'aretz in Hebrew
Arab woman indicted for failing to warn of bomber
By Uri Ash and Jalal Bana
A 27-year-old student from the village of Ba'ana in the Galilee, Yassra Bakhri, was charged yesterday with failing to prevent Sunday's terrorist attack on a bus at the Meron Junction in which nine people were killed and dozens injured.
According to the police and State Prosecutor's Office, the suicide bomber had met Bakhri on the bus and had instructed her to get off, saying that "something bad is going to happen." Although she got off the bus, taking a friend with her, Bakhri did not warn the driver, the other passengers or the security forces, the charges say.
Bakhri and her friend, Samia Assadi, 20, from Dir el-Assad, went to a police station after the bomb went off. They were detained, but released yesterday. Assadi is not being charged as there is no evidence against her.
Speaking at her family home in Ba'ana yesterday, Bakhri denied the charges, saying: "If I had known that I could save lives, I would have done so."
One of Bakhri's college friends, Meisoun Hassan, 19, from Sajur, was on the bus and was killed by the bomb.
Bakhri, a second-year student of Social Work and Arabic at the Safed College, boarded bus No 361 on Sunday morning on her way to her studies. She sat down on a seat behind the back door of the bus. Assadi, a second-year student of Hebrew and Arabic Literature, and Bakhri's good friend, followed her onto the bus and sat behind the driver.
After a few kilometers, the suicide bomber boarded the bus and sat down next to Bakhri. "He heard her talking Arabic with her friends and told her she must get off," Superintendent Ilan Haroush of the Galilee police told reporters yesterday.
According to the indictment presented yesterday to the Nazareth Magistrate's Court, the terrorist warned Bakhri twice: "Get off the bus," he said at first. Bakhri was surprised and asked him why. He then said: "Something bad is going to happen on the bus."
Bakhri then got up and told her friend Assadi to come with her. When Assadi asked her why, Bakhri allegedly told her that she was frightened.
The two young women rang the bell and climbed off the bus. They immediately stopped and boarded a taxi to Safed that was traveling right behind the bus.
The bus stopped at the Meron Junction and the taxi then passed it. When the taxi was a few hundred meters from the spot, the bomber detonated his explosives inside the bus.
Bakhri and Assadi got out the taxi and hitched a ride to Safed. From there, they were collected by Assadi's brother who took them to their respective homes.
The girls then went to the Karmiel police station, on the advice of their parents. Police say they were already searching for them at that point. They gave evidence and were detained. Their remand was extended on Monday and yesterday, the prosecution submitted charges against Bakhri.
Police did not request that Bakhri be held in detention until the end of the hearings since the maximum sentence for failing to report the crime is two years, and since there is no likelihood that she will repeat the offense.
The two women were released yesterday from the Kishon detention center - Bakhri, under restrictive conditions.
"It was not in my hands," Bakhri said yesterday and burst into tears. "My friend was on the bus and was killed. If I had known I could save lives, I would have done so."
At yesterday's court hearing, Bakhri said: "All my friends were on the bus... I was so frightened that I didn't know how to act. I was shaking."
Assadi, who is not being charged, said that her friend had acted correctly since she had not realized the man was a suicide bomber. Bakhri thought that the terrorist wanted to do something to her personally.
"In the taxi I said to her: `It's like all these boys who travel every day on the bus; it's like a boy who wants to talk to a girl.' She had no inkling something would happen inside the bus."
Bakhri's father, Muhammed, said yesterday that his daughter was not sure the man was a suicide bomber. "How could she call the police if she wasn't 100 percent sure?" he asked.
Runi Hassan, Meisoun's cousin, said: "We are not looking for revenge against anyone. Whatever we say or think cannot bring back what is gone. We all live here and that makes our resolve to work toward peace even stronger."
It is unusual for the prosecution to present charges merely for failing to report a crime, without additional charges. In previous cases, the suspects were usually charged with ideological motives as well.
The only person so far to have been indicted and found guilty merely of failing to prevent a crime is Bouheisa Sa'adi, 25, from Sakhnin. She was sentenced three weeks ago to 16 months in jail and eight months suspended for failing to prevent the bombing in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem in April that left six people dead.
The best known case of failure to report a crime is that of Margalit Har-Shefi, who was sentenced to nine months in prison and 15 months suspended for failing to prevent the murder of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
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