Accused sex offender Malka Leifer’s appeal to reexamine a Jerusalem District Court ruling that she is mentally fit to be extradited to Australia to stand trial there has been rejected by the High Court of Justice, Walla reported.Leifer’s attorneys filed the appeal last week. They requested a delay in the execution of the court’s decision to resume extradition proceedings, pending a decision on the appeal. They also asked to present new evidence from a Prisons Service medical officer that says Leifer has mental-health issues.Her attorneys pointed to a decision by a court in 2016 to halt all legal processes against Leifer due to medical opinions that she suffers from mental conditions and is unfit to stand trial.Leifer’s legal representatives also said despite the opinion of a panel of experts that she was faking her mental illness, she has been receiving antipsychotic drugs from Prisons Service psychiatrists that could adversely affect her health for two years.“We weren’t really surprised that the sex criminal Malka Leifer filed an appeal on the decision,” the Magen La’Kehilot Yehudiot (Jewish Community Guard) organization said in response to the appeal.Leifer is wanted in Australia on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape of minors. She has claimed mental illness since extradition proceedings began in 2014. The High Court ruled against those claims in May. Leifer has been declared fit for extradition and to stand trial in Australia. Her hearing is set for July 16.Tzvi Joffre and Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.The Supreme Court has rejected alleged sex offender Malka Leifer's request to reexamine the ruling made by the Jerusalem District Court determining that she is fit to stand trial, Walla reported. Following the Supreme Court's decision, Leifer's trial will continue as usual.
The ruling comes after an appeal filed by Leifer's attorneys last week, concerning the ruling by the Jerusalem District Court that she is mentally fit to be extradited to Australia to stand trial there.
The attorneys requested a delay in the execution of the court’s decision to resume extradition proceedings, pending the decision on the appeal filed last week. They also wished to present new evidence – a document by a medical officer in the Israel Prison Service (IPS) rejecting the court’s decision and stating that Leifer is, in fact, suffering from mental health issues.Her attorneys pointed to a decision by a court in 2016 to halt all legal processes against Leifer due to medical opinions stating that she suffers from mental conditions and is unfit to stand trial.
Leifer’s legal representatives also stated that despite the opinion of a panel of experts that she was faking her mental illness, she has been receiving anti-psychotic drug treatment from expert psychiatrists in the IPS that could adversely affect her health for two years.
“We weren’t really surprised that the sex criminal Malka Leifer filed an appeal on the decision,” said the Magen La’Kehilot Yehudiot (Jewish Community Guard) organization in response to the appeal.Leifer is wanted in Australia on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape of minors. She has claimed mental illness since extradition proceedings began in 2014, but the court ruled against those claims in May. Leifer has been declared fit for extradition and to stand trial in Australia, and her hearing is set for July 16.Tzvi Joffre and Lahav Harkov contributed to this report