Mohammad El Halabi (born 1978) is a Palestinian aid worker and former manager for World Vision International in Palestine who was convicted of diverting funds to Hamas.
Halabi’s father Khalil worked closely with UNRWA's director for Gaza, attending meetings with the likes of Tony Blair and John Kerry.
[4][5][6] After his arrest, Halabi's lawyer, Muhammad Mahmoud, stated that his client has nothing to do with Hamas and that the fact that the investigation had lasted 55 days proved that there were problems with the evidence.
[4] On 4 August, three weeks after the raid, Halabi confessed to an undercover informer that he had been diverting funds to Hamas, but his lawyer has claimed that he may have made the statement under duress in the form of beating by interrogators, treatment which the UN has said “may amount to torture”.
[8] As the trial dragged on, the Israeli government came under increasing international pressure to resolve the case and bring the aid worker's indeterminate detention to an end.
[3] The defense noted in February 2022: "The facts are very clear and the case should have been dropped a long time ago … but the Israelis need to find a face-saving way out since Mohammed refused a plea deal.
[10] According to Michael Omer-Man, director of research at Democracy for the Arab World Now, Halabi's charges include treason despite him being from Gaza and neither an Israeli citizen nor resident.
[11] In November 2020, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights Michael Lynk and three colleagues stated: "What is happening to [Halabi] bears no relation to the trial standards we expect from democracies, and is part of a pattern where Israel uses secret evidence to indefinitely detain hundreds of Palestinians," while noting that it was "particularly disturbing that the prosecution is relying upon confessions allegedly obtained by force while he was denied access to a lawyer, and on testimony from undercover informers.