Israeli-Canadian released in Iraq after 11 years in prison — Jerusalem Post
In Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, Israeli-Canadian Benjamin Hassin was released after spending 11 years in prison following his conviction in a case involving the death of a taxi driver. As The Jerusalem Post reports, he was released on Wednesday following coordinated international efforts.
The shooting case
Hassin was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and moved as a child first to Israel and then to Canada. As a teenager, he returned to Israel. According to Yeshiva World News, in 2014 Hassin traveled to Kurdistan to visit his grandparents and joined the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, which was defending cities from the Islamic State group.
In 2015, when Hassin was preparing to leave for Israel, he was reportedly stopped by a taxi driver. Hassin claimed that the driver heard him speaking Hebrew, understood that his passenger was Israeli, and threatened to kill him. Armed Hassin said that he shot the driver in self-defense. The taxi driver died of his injuries several days later, after which Hassin was arrested and charged with murder. He was sentenced to death.
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Sentence overturned
Information about Hassin's imprisonment became public more than a year later. Ayoub Kara, then Israel's deputy minister for regional cooperation, said in a social media video that he had worked with the prisoner's father, Ilan Hassin, to secure his release. International Jewish groups also joined the campaign.
In November 2025, Hassin's death sentence was overturned after a sulha agreement was reached. According to the publication, $250,000 was raised at the request of Iraqi authorities. Lawyer Alan Dershowitz said the funds were used to persuade the deceased man's family to agree to the deal. Despite the sentence being overturned, Hassin remained in custody until his release.
The success of the negotiations is linked to former Israeli Foreign Ministry official Eyal Sisso and lawyer Alan Lowy. Reports said that Lowy regularly flew to Sulaymaniyah for negotiations and traveled with Hassin to Israel after his release. The publication also reported that Hassin allegedly suffered torture, physical violence, and ill-treatment during his imprisonment. After arriving in Jerusalem, he is to begin studies under the Aish HaTorah Foundation program.
