Public Defender No.1
Leah Tsemel is a Jewish Israeli lawyer who does the unthinkable: she defends Palestinian extremists.
She has exposed Israeli torture at its secret military facility 1391 in the north. Here the Israelis have used techniques made infamous by the US in Iraq, like naked interrogation. "They take off all your clothes. They know that, as Muslims, it's very insulting for us," describes former prisoner Mustapha Dirani. Tsmele still campaigns for the prison's closure, whilst fighting a daily battle against the collective punishment of Palestinians not directly involved in terror. Taxi driver Mahmoud Lardy is accused of driving a suicide bomber to an attack that killed 22 Israelis. Tsemel gets his prison term reduced from 22 life sentences to 12 years, but says an innocent man is jailed due to the presumption of Arab guilt. During the latest intifada, she has defended many would-be suicide bombers. "Every young Palestinian who goes to commit suicide knows his house will be demolished, his parents will suffer... and yet, they think that it is more important to make this patriotic act rather than remain oppressed so much". Palestinian Arin Ahmed is young and beautiful, and topped her class at Bethlehem University. Recruited as a suicide bomber for the Al-Aqsa Brigades, she turned back from her deadly mission at the last moment. Nevertheless, she is now in jail for the 3 deaths caused by her accomplice.
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