[Episcopal News Service] Layan Nasir, the 25-year-old Anglican Palestinian woman who spent eight months last year in administrative detention by the Israeli government, has been declared guilty by an Israeli court and given a prison sentence of seven-and-a-half months.
Nasir is a member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit in the occupied West Bank. She has been free since she was released from detention on Dec. 5, 2024, after being held since April 6.
The date when her sentence will begin has been delayed until November, for unknown reasons, the Rev. Don Binder, told Episcopal News Service in a written statement. He also shared details of her case.
Binder is an Episcopal priest who is serving as canon pastor to the English-speaking congregation at Jerusalem’s St. George’s Anglican Cathedral and as chaplain to Archbishop Hosam Naoum, of the Diocese of Jerusalem.
The conviction was for “routine activities that took place four years ago” when she was a student at Birzeit University, in the occupied West Bank, Binder said, adding that the Israeli military prosecution had rejected “all proposed alternatives to incarceration.”
Nasir’s hearing on those charges originally was scheduled for Sept. 7, but he said she and supporters were told it had been postponed to Nov. 23. Binder said he learned that the hearing took place anyway, without her, and she was found guilty without a trial.
The decision to imprison Nasir “lacks any legal or moral justification,” Binder said, especially considering that she is no longer a student and is now a full-time community worker at the YMCA. He noted that the reason for her detention last year also has never been made clear.
Four Church of England bishops in August also urged Israel not to detain Nasir again, saying to do so would be a “travesty.”
According to a story in the Church Times, the bishops had contacted both the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom and the British government, asking them to speak out about Nasir’s case and urging the Israeli military court to make “a fair and just decision” that didn’t include incarceration.
The story notes that Nasir met some of these bishops during recent trips to the Holy Land.
The dean of St. George’s College in Jerusalem, the Very Rev. Richard Sewell, posted support for Nasir on his Facebook page, noting that “all the people of the Diocese of Jerusalem will rally to support Layan and her family in the coming weeks.”
He called her sentence and the change of hearing dates “confusing,” saying he and other supporters, including members of her church, are “distressed by a process which offers no visible sense of justice.” While they explore any possible avenue to reverse a decision he called “erroneous,” he said their first responsibility will be to support Nasir and her family.
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.