Israeli soldier jailed 8 years for killing British activist
AFP
Date: 08-11-05
JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli Bedouin was sentenced to eight years prison for shooting a British peace activist, becoming the first Israeli soldier to be jailed for killing a foreigner during the intifada.
An army statement said a military court near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon sentenced Taysir Wahid "to eight years in prison and an additional two years suspended sentence" over the death of Tom Hurndall.
Wahid became the first soldier back in June to be convicted of killing a foreigner since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nearly five years ago when he was found guilty of the manslaughter of Hurndall, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement.
He had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison for the killing during an army operation in the Gaza Strip and has left the army since the shooting.
Palestinian medics and witnesses said Hurndall, wearing a fluorescent jacket with ISM initials on it, was trying to pull two Palestinian children out of danger when shots were fired from a nearby army watchtower in April 2003.
Wahid, who was a sergeant, was convicted on a total of six charges, including obstructing justice and providing false testimony as well as conduct unbecoming a soldier.
He had initially said that Hurndall had first opened fire but later signed a deposition in which he admitted firing in the direction of an unarmed civilian.
The army equivocally ruled that Wahid had violated rules of engagement.
"The court found the defendant fabricated a series of events in an attempt to cover up his actions and absolve himself of responsibility for the shooting and its consequences," the statement said.
"The court must send a clear message that, despite the period of murderous terror attacks in Israel... They must take every measure within their power to prevent any harm to human life, person or dignity," the statement added.
Hurndall, who was 22 at the time of the shooting, died in January 2004 in a London hospital after spending nine months in a persistent vegetative state.
His father Anthony said after the verdict was delivered on June 27 that the case had underlined a culture of impunity for Israeli soldiers operating in Gaza.
"We are concerned that there is a policy which seems to be prevalent in Gaza among the Israeli soldiers and army that they feel able to shoot civilians really without any accountability whatsoever," he said.
Several ISM activists have been wounded by the army in the course of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which erupted in September 2000.
An army investigation into the death of 23-year-old US national and ISM activist Rachel Corrie concluded that her being crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah in March 2003 had been an accident.
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