Dawabsheh house in Duma
Dawabsheh house in DumaMiriam Alster/Flash 90

The Central District Court in Lod handed down a sentence of 3.5 years in prison to a man accused of involvement in the Duma arson attack in which three members of the Dawabsheh family were killed in 2015.

The 32 months the man has already spent in prison will be counted towards his sentence and he will spend a further ten months in jail.

The 22-year-old suspect was a minor when the crime occurred.

His lawyers, Adi Keidar and Zion Amir, intend to appeal the verdict and sentence to the Supreme Court. Attorney Keidar said, "In the sentence, the judges completely reject the state's claims regarding the sentence as well. Unfortunately, however, the sentence is entirely influenced by confidential Shin Bet information, a decision that will not stand."

"The judges wanted to impose a penalty of community service, and it's only because of confidential information which he had no way of defending against did they decide that the minor did not deserve a lighter sentence."

Keidar added, "This is a precedent-setting decision which allows for sentencing arguments to deal with confidential information, and only shows that the Shin Bet is involved in investigative, judicial, sentencing and sentencing proceedings, and this cannot stand and must be overturned."

The suspect was was convicted following a plea bargain deal of conspiracy to commit a crime and a number of other price tag offenses after the court threw out the confessions he made during interrogation by the Shin Bet. The dismissal of the confessions forced the prosecution to withdraw most of the charges against him.

Earlier this week, the court sentenced Amiram Ben Uliel, accused of being the mastermind of the Duma murders, to three life sentences.