Israeli Sentenced in Palestinian Family Murder Case

Amiram Ben Uliel, 25, was sentenced on Monday to three life sentences and another 20 years in prison for the murder of three Palestinians in the village of Duma in the West Bank five years ago. Ben Uliel’s accomplice, a minor who was convicted of conspiracy to commit the murder, will be sentenced Wednesday. Immediately after the decision was announced, Ben Uliel’s family promised to appeal the court’s ruling, blaming the judges for miscarrying justice. A verbal altercation between the victim’s remaining family members and the murderer’s family, which broke out in the courtroom, threatened to turn physical and forced court security personnel to intervene and break the parties up. In the early hours of July 31, 2015, Ben Uliel and his accomplice tossed several Molotov bottles into the Duma home of the Dawabsha family. The ensuing fire that destroyed the house killed Ali, an 18-month-old baby, and his two parents, and severely injured a 4-year-old child, Ahmed, the only surviving family member. Ben Uliel’s family has maintained that his confession was taken under torture, a claim refuted by the court.