Israel to extradite Malka Leifer to Australia over child sex abuse
The Jerusalem District Court on Monday approved the extradition of a former school principal wanted in Australia on charges of child sex abuse, following a six-year-long legal battle.
Malka Leifer is accused of sexually abusing several former
students. Lawyers said she would stand trial for 74 charges of child sex abuse
against girls. The defendant was both a former teacher and principal at an
ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne, where she had emigrated to from her native
Israel.
The accused has contested the extradition from Israel since
2014 and consistently maintained her innocence. Critics, including her alleged
victims, have accused Israeli authorities of dragging the case out for too
long.
Her attorneys said they would appeal the extradition
decision to Israel's Supreme Court. "For those who think that this chapter
is now closed, I'm sorry, the process will still last quite a few months
more," said Nick Kaufman, one of the accused's defense lawyers. The former educator and her family fled
Australia in 2008, and have been living in the Emmanuel settlement in the
occupied West Bank.
Earlier this month, Israel's Supreme Court rejected an
appeal by her attorney over a Jerusalem court's ruling that she was mentally
fit to stand trial, saying it was "putting an end to the saga that has
been drawn out for many years." Jerusalem district court justice Chana
Lomp ruled in May that while the woman had "mental problems," they
were not "psychotic problems of mental illness as in its legal
definition."
A previous extradition attempt between 2014 and 2016 failed
after she was hospitalized in mental institutions and expert opinions found
that she was not fit to stand trial. However, undercover private investigators
later filmed her shopping and depositing a check at a bank, appearing to live a
normal life. This prompted authorities to investigate whether she was faking
mental illness to avoid extradition, leading to her re-arrest in February 2018.
Manny Waks, the head of Kol v'Oz, a Jewish group that
combats child sex abuse, said Monday's ruling marked "a great day for
justice."
"It is a day which at times seemed like it would never
arrive, but we are thrilled that it is finally here,'' Waks said. "It has
taken 71 court hearings to get to this point. It has been Israel's shame.''
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