Two Israelis jailed for burning teen

JERUSALEM - Agence France-Presse

Suha, the mother of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir who was killed in 2014, reacts in a courtroom after the sentences were announced on February 4, 2016 at the Jerusalem district court. AFP Photo

A court sentenced two young Israelis to life and 21 years in prison yesterday for burning a Palestinian teen alive, part of a cycle of violence that led up to the 2014 Gaza war.

The two Israelis were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him. 

Life sentences were the maximum available to the three-judge panel at the Jerusalem District Court.

The defendant sentenced to 21 years, the youngest of the three who was said to have psychiatric problems, was found to have remained in the car when Abu Khdeir was killed.

Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack on Abu Khdeir but his lawyers say he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time.

 The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent. 

The two others were 16 when they killed Abu Khdeir in 2014 but are now 18.