Rasmea Odeh with her supporters

DETROIT – U.S. Judge Gershwin Drain allowed prosecutors’ request for psychological evaluation of Palestinian community leader Rasmea Odeh by a government expert.

In 2014, Odeh was found guilty of lying on her naturalization application because she was failed to disclose that she was convicted in 1969 by an Israeli military court of being involved bombing in Jerusalem. The defendant says the Israeli trial was based on a confession forced by torture, which caused her to suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Earlier this year, the Sixth Court of Appeals overturned Odeh’s conviction of immigration, ruling that Drain should have allowed the testimony of a psychological expert, who was going to argue that PTSD affected Odeh’s understanding of the question on the citizenship paperwork.

The case is back in Detroit, where the prosecution will now be able to have its own expert to question Odeh’s assertions.

The defendant’s supporters say prosecuting the Chicago-based community leader is a political witch-hunt against Palestinian activism.

The Rasmea Defense Committee slammed Drain’s decision, saying that approving the government’s questioning, which could last up to 18 hours, will re-traumatize Odeh.

Odeh endured three weeks of brutal sexual, physical, and psychological torture at the hands of the Israeli military, her supporters say.

“The government is clearly using legal maneuvers to convolute a medical diagnosis by a world-renowned mental health professional, and Drain is allowing it,” the defense committee said in a statement.

In his ruling, Drain dismissed the defense’s argument that questioning by the government expert will aggravate Odeh’s PTSD symptoms. He said the assertion is belied by the “numerous occasion” Odeh discussed her experiences in the media and elsewhere. 

Lead defense attorney Michael Deutsch denied the judge’s claim.

“While Rasmea has become the most famous target of a political trial in the U.S. today, she has always avoided discussion of the crimes committed against her in that Israeli prison in 1969,” Deutsch said in a statement. “The government case against Rasmea is based on the word of her Israeli captors, and yet at every turn, Judge Drain has denied her defense the right to challenge those statements in his courtroom.”

He added that Drain’s latest ruling favors the prosecution’s endless attempts to cover up the crimes of Israel against Odeh.