After Decade in Iraq Prison for Shooting Cab Driver, Israeli-Canadian Freed by International Effort
His release followed a reconciliation agreement with the victim’s family and a pardon that lifted a death sentence, officials and reports said.
- On Wednesday, Israeli-Canadian Ben Hassin walked free from an Iraqi Kurdistan prison after serving 11 years for a taxi driver's killing, ending an extraordinary case Israel kept largely secret.
- Hassin traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 to join local Kurdish forces battling ISIS, but shot a taxi driver who allegedly threatened to report him to the terrorist group.
- Originally sentenced to death in 2020, Hassin's punishment was reduced to 15 years; his release followed a sulha agreement and $250,000 in funds raised at Iraqi authorities' request.
- Aish CEO Rabbi Steven Burg and director Rabbi Dovid Rosman announced the Aish Yeshiva in Jerusalem will welcome Hassin upon his arrival in Israel this week.
- Hassin intends to begin studying Torah at the Aish Yeshiva upon his return, seeking to rebuild his life after enduring over a decade of imprisonment and reported severe mistreatment.
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Aish Welcomes Israeli-Kurdish Jew Freed After 11 Years in Iraqi Prison
JERUSALEM (VINnews) – Aish, a Jewish educational organization with its main campus and yeshiva in Jerusalem, announced Thursday that it will welcome Binyamin “Ben Limor” Chasin, an Israeli- and Canadian-citizen who was freed after spending more than a decade in prison in Iraqi Kurdistan. Chasin is expected to arrive in Israel this week and begin […]
Israeli sentenced to death in Iraq to return home after 11 years in prison
The 42-year-old was convicted of killing a taxi driver, but an Iraqi court reduced his sentence after evidence showed he acted in self-defense and following a reconciliation with the victim's family
Jewish man released from Iraqi prison after killing taxi driver in self-defense
Binyamin Chasin—initially facing a death sentence for killing an Iraqi taxi driver in self-defense who claimed to be part of ISIS and threatened to kill him—was released to Israel after an 11-year jail sentence.
After decade in Iraq prison for shooting cab driver, Israeli-Canadian freed by international effort
Hassin, who was armed, claimed he shot the driver in self-defense after the driver threatened to kill him upon realizing he was Israeli. He was arrested and sentenced to death.
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