JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli authorities on Monday extradited a former professor accused of sexually abusing his former students in Australia, ending a six-year legal battle that had strained relations between the two governments and antagonized the Jewish community. ‘Australia.
Malka Leifer, who is wanted for 74 counts of child sexual abuse in Australia, was put on a flight early in the day, several hours before Israel closed its international airport to almost all air traffic due to a coronavirus outbreak. Israeli media photographed Leifer boarding a plane at Ben Gurion Airport, with her ankles and wrists tied. His lawyer, Nick Kaufman, confirmed the extradition.
Leifer, a former teacher accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne, had been fighting extradition since 2014. Leifer, 54, maintains her innocence and prolonged court case and delays repeated allegations of extradition had provoked criticism from Australian officials. as well as the country’s Jewish leaders.
The Hebrew news site Ynet reported that Leifer boarded a flight to Frankfurt, where she was to move to another flight to Australia.
Three sisters – Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper – have accused Leifer of abusing them while they were students at an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne. It is said that there are other victims. The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sexual abuse, but the sisters have spoken publicly about their allegations against Leifer.
Manny Waks, head of Voice against Child Sex Abuse, an organization that represents Leifer’s victims, told The Associated Press that it was “a momentous day for justice and incredible for its alleged victims in particular, in addition to ‘send an incredible message to other survivors that justice will ultimately prevail.’
“From our perspective, it has taken a long time to develop this process. So far we have seen more than 70 audiences, ”said Waks.
Erlich simply wrote on his Facebook page, “Leifer is on the plane to Australia.”
In Australia, lawmakers and leaders of the Jewish community welcomed the news of Leifer’s extradition.
Dave Sharma, a member of parliament and former Australian ambassador to Israel, wrote on Twitter that they were “welcome news for all those concerned about justice in this case.”
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, said “this prolonged saga” is over. “For too many survivors of child sexual abuse, justice is denied. But now, twelve years after fleeing Australia, Leifer is on track to face prosecutors again in court,” he said in a statement. .
Israel has extradition treaties with Europe and nine other countries, including the United States and Australia, and routinely extradites citizens charged with serious crimes. Leifer’s lawyers have said they will request that he serve any prison sentence in Israel, in accordance with Israeli law.
When the charges against her began to appear in 2008, Leifer, of Israeli descent, left school and returned to Israel, where she has lived ever since. Critics, including Leifer’s alleged victims, had accused Israeli authorities of dragging the case for too long, while Leifer claimed she was not mentally fit to be prosecuted.
Israeli police have also recommended allegations of fraud and breach of trust against former Health Minister Yaakov Litzman on suspicion of pressuring ministry employees to bias their psychiatric assessments at Leifer. Litzman, a powerful ultra-Orthodox politician, denies the wrongdoing.
Last year, an Israeli psychiatric group determined that Leifer was lying about her mental condition, initiating extradition. In December, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against her extradition and Israel’s justice minister signed the order to send her to Australia.
Details of Leifer’s connecting flight to Australia were not immediately available.
Late Sunday, the Israeli Council of Ministers approved a tight closure of almost all inbound and outbound air traffic from midnight Monday through Jan. 31. The government said it would make exceptions for a small number of humanitarian cases (such as funerals and medical patients) and cargo flights. Israel’s health ministry has recorded more than 600,000 cases of coronavirus and 4,419 deaths since the start of the pandemic last year.
Kaufman, Leifer’s lawyer, said that upon arriving in Australia, his client “will be quarantined and appear by video conference before a judge who will formally confirm his identity and read the charges to him.” He said he hoped the Australian authorities would respect his orthodox Jewish lifestyle and allow him regular contact with his lawyers and family.
Avi Nissenkorn, the former Israeli justice minister who had signed the extradition order, wrote on Twitter: “I promised I would not hinder the extradition order, and that is what I have done. Malka Leifer will finally win an act of justice. ”