Jewish man freed from Iraqi death row after global campaign, heads to Israel

A Jewish man who has been imprisoned in Iraq for 11 years was released today following a coordinated international effort.Israeli-Canadian Benjamin Hassin, now in his early 30s, was released from prison in Sulaymaniyah on Wednesday.Hassin was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and immigrated as a child first to Israel and then to Canada, before again returning to Israel as a teenager.In 2014, he is understood to have flown to Kurdistan to visit his grandparents. There, according to Yeshiva World News, he joined local Kurdish Peshmerga militia who were defending their towns from ISIS.In 2015, on leaving for Israel, Hassin was allegedly accosted by a taxi driver who heard him speaking Hebrew, realized Hassin was Israeli, and threatened to kill him.Hassin, who was armed, claimed he shot the driver in self-defense. The driver died a few days later from the injuries, and Hassin was arrested and charged with murder.