A FURTHER custodial sentence for Layan Nasir, a Palestinian Anglican who was detained for eight months by Israeli forces last year (News, 13 December 2024), would be a “travesty”, four bishops have said.
In a letter of support to Ms Nasir, dated 21 August and seen by the Church Times this week, the Bishops of Chelmsford, Gloucester, Norwich, and Southwark, express their distress to hear that the Ofer Military Court has so far refused a plea deal before her court hearing on 7 September.
“We can only imagine the anxiety and stress that you are feeling and we want to reassure you that you and your family are very much in our thoughts and prayers,” they write.
“It would be a travesty if your rehabilitation and reintegration back into society is interrupted by a further custodial sentence on a spurious charge from over four years ago. We earnestly pray that a plea deal can be negotiated with the court that avoids such an outcome.”
Ms Nasir, 25, is a member of the Anglican community affiliated with St Peter’s, Birzeit, in the Occupied West Bank.
On leaving school, she studied nutrition at Birzeit University. She was first arrested in 2021, aged 21, purportedly for her support of a student-led union (the Democratic Progressive Student Pole), which an Israeli military order had deemed illegal the previous year, claiming that it was associated with terrorist organisations.
She was held for two months, then released on bond. Neither convicted nor exonerated, she was called regularly to court hearings for the next two years where decisions regarding her case were repeatedly deferred.
In April last year, she was held for eight months under “administrative detention” — a mechanism that the Israeli authorities use in the occupied West Bank to incarcerate individuals indefinitely without charge or trial, on the basis that they are said to be a security threat (News, 1 May, 28 June 2024).
Ofer Military Court is demanding an eight-month prison sentence in connection with the case from 2021. Despite her lawyer’s attempts to reach a plea deal involving a fine or other conditions that would avoid her imprisonment, the military prosecution is refusing, insisting on her detention.
The Bishops, some of whom met Ms Nasir on recent visits to the Holy Land, have, they say, written to the Israeli Ambassador in London and the British Government to ask that the case be raised with the relevant parties “to ensure that the Military Court makes a fair and just decision” that avoids a custodial sentence.
“In our letters, we have questioned the veracity of the charges . . . and testified as to your good character. We know you to be a kind and gentle individual and a well-respected member of your community.”
A briefing document provided by the Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem, the Very Revd Canon Richard Sewell, states that conditions inside Israeli prisons “are extremely harsh and re-arresting her could put her life at risk”. She would be the only Christian detainee.
The Bishops conclude their letter by praying that Ms Nasir’s faith will be “a source of strength and comfort during the difficult days ahead. Please be assured that you are not alone.” The Church Times understands that the Bishops do not expect a reply from Ms Nasir.