'Israel prevented initial Saadat trial'

[Scurrilous]

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"Ahmed Saadat was never tried because Israel refused to provide the Palestinian Authority with evidence that he ordered the murder of transportation minister Rehavam Ze'evi, Alastair Crooke, a former security adviser to the European Union's special envoy to the Middle East, told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

"Former PA chairman Yasser Arafat insisted that evidence be produced and that (Saadat) stand trial in Palestine," he said by phone from London. "Israel was not prepared to give evidence to the Palestinians or to Arafat."

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"On April 29, a PA military tribunal tried the four PFLP members and sentenced them to terms up to 18 years' imprisonment for killing Ze'evi. Arafat, however, ruled that because Saadat was a political leader and not a military leader, his case must be decided by the PA judiciary, and without evidence there would be no trial. Later that day they were transferred to the Jericho jail. IDF forces withdrew from the Mukata on May 2."

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"Saadat, who now faces trial after being captured by the IDF on Tuesday, became the head of the PFLP only days before Ze'evi was killed in October. He took over from Abu Ali Mustafa, one of the founders of the PFLP and its former head, who was assassinated by Israeli forces seven weeks earlier."

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