The defendant admitted in his testimony that they had replaced the license plates and loaded the Mitsubishi onto the tow truck, but claimed that he was not aware of what the vehicle had been used for before. He claimed that he did not ask questions about this issue, because Samer had a senior position in the disputes in which the family was involved. The defendant himself did not cooperate with Samer, was not interested in the dispute and tried to stay away from problems, even after they tried to eliminate him. The defendant was afraid of Samer and therefore did not ask questions. He also knew that Samer was also involved in cars, and that was what he thought when he asked for help with the car. The defendant didn't know why the license plates needed to be replaced and didn't ask questions, but he helped 'Abd al-Hadi replace the license plates with his screwdriver, while Udai stayed in the car.
When asked why he did not say anything when he was questioned by the police about all these events, he claimed that he was afraid that it could get him in trouble and did not want to cooperate with the police. He confirmed that he claimed all the time that he did not remember even though he remembered well where and why he had gone and who had taken the phone, but he claimed that Samer was still alive and the defendant did not want to endanger his own life. Towards the end of his testimony, the defendant referred to the paper clipping, and claimed that he did not know it and did not know how he got to the Mazda. He mentioned that it was Abu Khalifa's car, which sometimes also takes the car, and there are other users of the car.
The cross-examination [ibid., at pp. 486-627]
After a number of questions regarding the last time the defendant experienced an assassination attempt, a topic that has already been discussed in the chapter dealing with the motive, the defendant was asked to address the issue of vehicles, and once again told about receiving the vehicles from Abu Khalifa, and that during the period in question he used a Mazda, and sometimes a Mercedes as well. Against the background of these answers, he was asked why he claimed in his last police interrogation that he did not remember using a Mercedes, and in response the defendant explicitly confirmed that he had lied in his answers to the investigators on many issues, because he was arrested for murder, and did not want to cooperate in anything [ibid., at pp. 496-497]. For the same reason, he also denied in the first interrogation the fact that his cousins Abed and Odai had been in the car with him on the day of the arrest since noon, and that the purpose of their arrival at the scene was to load the Mitsubishi onto the tow truck, at Samer's request. The police did not want to cooperate, so he made up a story, saying that he did not remember because that was what came to his mind at that moment. For the same reasons, he also lied when he denied ordering the tow truck and the nature of his acquaintance with Abdullah al-Khatib, even though in fact he invited Abdullah to tow the Mitsubishi, without knowing that the car was stolen or involved in the murder.