Israeli Man Freed From Iraqi Kurdistan Prison After Decade

Benjamin Hasin, an Israeli citizen who had been imprisoned in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2015, has been released and is expected to return to Israel in the coming days, according to international reports. Hasin, also known as Benjamin Ben Limor, has been freed after more than a decade in detention. Reports also indicate he has been accepted to study at the "Ish HaTorah" yeshiva in Jerusalem.

The case began in 2014 when Hasin, who was born in Kurdistan, immigrated to Israel, and also lived in Canada, returned to the region to visit his grandparents. At the time, the Islamic State group, or ISIS, was active in the area. In 2015, an altercation occurred with a taxi driver who heard Hasin speaking Hebrew and threatened to turn him over to ISIS. The driver was injured and later died from his wounds.

Hasin was arrested, and in 2020, a Kurdish court sentenced him to death by hanging. In November 2025, it was reported that the death sentence was overturned following a reconciliation agreement with the driver's family, which included financial compensation raised through a donation campaign. Consequently, the sentence was commuted to a short prison term, but Hasin remained in detention, which evolved into a lengthy sentence.

It was also noted that activists continue to handle arrangements for his departure from Iraq and his reception in Israel. Israeli officials have not yet commented on the news. "Since 2008, the Kurdistan Regional Government has implemented a de facto moratorium on the execution of death sentences, although courts in the region still impose death sentences according to the law, the authorities generally do not carry them out and commute them to life imprisonment," stated attorney Mordechai Tzivin, who specializes in handling criminal entanglements of Israelis abroad. According to Tzivin, this moratorium has only been broken in rare instances, such as in 2015, when three individuals convicted of horrific kidnappings and murders were executed, an event that drew international criticism for the breach.