Mideast - AFP
Mother of slain Briton blasts Israeli army for son's death
Date: Mon, May 10, 2004
LONDON (AFP) - The mother of British pacifist Tom Hurndall, killed in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) in April last year, accused the Israeli army of preparing to hold "a show trial" of the soldier who shot him.
"We have heard representations from the indicted soldier and other colleagues in his unit, indicating that he is being hung out to dry and that he was just following orders," Jocelyn Hurndall told the BBC Radio 4 Today program.
"There are many questions in relation to this that need to be answered," she added shortly before an Israeli Arab army sergeant was to go on trial before a military court for the manslaughter of her 22-year-old son.
Blaming Israel's "culture of impunity in the occupied territories," Hurndall said "there are systemic problems within the Israeli Defense Forces which need to be looked at" and added that she hoped for something more than "the staging of a show trial."
Tom Hurndall, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was shot in the head in the Rafah refugee camp on April 11 last year.
Palestinian medics and witnesses said he was trying to pull two Palestinian children out of danger when shots were fired from a nearby army watchtower.
The accused soldier, whose identity has not been revealed, was arrested in January. He was reported to have admitted that he fired in the direction of an unarmed civilian after first claiming that Hurndall shot at him with a handgun.
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