ITAMAR, Israel, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An Israeli military court has ordered a longer sentence for a Palestinian man who was found guilty of involvement in the 2011 slayings of a family of five.
Muhammed Awad was found guilty of accessory to voluntary manslaughter, failing to prevent a crime, weapons trafficking and conspiracy to carry out a shooting in the deaths of Udi and Ruti Fogel and their three children in the town of Itamar in Samaria, the Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Thursday.
Awad was later acquitted of the voluntary manslaughter charges and sentenced to five years in prison.
Prosecutors in the case appealed the acquittal, as well as the lenient sentencing, citing the brutality of the deaths.
Israel's Military Court of Appeals did not reverse the acquittal, but decided that Awad should serve the maximum time for the charges he was convicted on. He will now serve seven years in prison before he is released on parole.
Two teenagers, Hakim and Amjad Awad, were convicted of the slayings and given multiple life sentences.
