Palestinian accused of raping 7 year-old Chareidie Israeli girl Walks Free!

Mahmoud Qadusa Accused Rapist 

The Israel Defense Forces’ military advocate general announced Tuesday morning that he was dropping the charges against a Palestinian man accused of brutally raping a seven-year-old Israeli girl.

The indictment against Mahmoud Qadusa had come under fire for its apparent lack of evidence, a fact that the military prosecutor, Sharon Afek, acknowledged in a statement to the press announcing the annulment of the charges.

The statement said that “the evidentiary infrastructure that underlies the indictment does not at this time amount to a ‘reasonable chance of conviction.’ Therefore, by law, the criminal process cannot continue, the indictment must be withdrawn and Qadusa released from custody.”

The MAG’s announcement was released hours before a military court was scheduled to hold a remand hearing for Qadusa.

The suspect’s lawyer said the decision was “better late than never,” but blasted the court for having allowed his client to remain in jail for nearly two months. He is slated to be released later on Tuesday.

Qadusa, a 46-year-old maintenance custodian at the alleged victim’s school in an ultra-Orthodox settlement in the central West Bank, was arrested 55 days ago.

According to the dropped charges, sometime “between the months of February and April” Qadusa dragged the girl from her school to a vacant home in the settlement, where he raped her as at least two of his friends pinned her down.

Police kept the case under gag order until after they had filed the indictment last Sunday. The charges were met with a flurry of posts on social media that concluded the crime had been an act of terrorism due to the fact that the suspect was a Palestinian.

Several right-wing lawmakers called for Qadusa’s execution.

But days after the indictment was leaked, police came under fire for relying almost entirely on the testimony of the seven-year-old victim, forgoing forensic evidence in addition to being unable to determine the exact date that the alleged crime had taken place.

Last week, police announced that they were reopening the investigation in order to verify the suspicions against Qadusa.