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Partridge
04-10-2006, 03:10 PM
British peace activist was 'intentionally killed'
Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1750916,00.html)

A jury has ruled that a British activist shot while acting as a human shield in the Gaza Strip was "intentionally killed".Tom Hurndall, from north London, was wearing an orange jacket to mark him out as a peace activist.

The 22-year-old had apparently been trying to move young Palestinian children from the line of fire when he was hit in the head. He was left in a coma and died nine months later.

Speaking after the hearing, the Hurndall family representative, Michael Mansfield QC, said they were delighted with the verdict. However, he stressed there was still work to be done.

"Make no mistake about it, the Israeli defence force have today been found culpable by this jury of murder," he said.

The family accused the Israeli authorities of a "cover-up", calling on the British government to take action under the Geneva convention.

They said it should investigate, and if necessary extradite the five Israeli officers they believe made up the a chain of command which led to Mr Hurndall being shot.

If this did not happen the family would consider pursuing justice through the courts. Earlier, Mr Hurndall's mother had criticised the government for not speaking out about her son's death.

"We are astonished to this day that Tony Blair has never publicly condemned the shooting of Tom," Joyce Hurndall said. "It is necessary for the Israelis to hear condemnation from him."

She said the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had never seemed to "expect an apology" from the Israelis over the shooting.

Initially, the Israeli army denied a soldier from an army watchtower had shot Mr Hurndall, but witnesses at the demonstration in the Palestinian town of Rafah said he had been hit by a rifle bullet while trying to shield the children.

Following a hard-fought campaign by the peace activist's family, ex-sergeant Taysir Hayb was convicted at an Israeli military court of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison last year.

He was the first soldier to be convicted over the death of a foreign national during recent Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The inquest heard how Mr Hurndall, who had been taking photographs in Iraq before going to the Gaza Strip with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist group, had contemplated what it would be like to be hit by a bullet.

Ms Hurndall said she had received an email from Tom on April 11, just hours before the shooting. He reported being "shot at, gassed and chased" by soldiers during the five days he was in Rafah and described the danger that both he and the Palestinians were facing.

She also described what she thought had been her son's last words. Around half an hour before he was shot, he had been talking to a Palestinian man, who had been telling him how difficult life was for residents in Rafah, she told the hearing.

"Tom put his hand on his shoulder and said: 'We want to make a difference'," she said. "Really, those were his last words."

Mr Hurndall's father, Anthony, told the hearing that his son and other activists from the ISM had gone out to try and block tanks that had been shooting into houses at random.

He said Tom had seen a group of ten to 15 children playing on a mound of sand, and noticed that bullets were hitting the ground between them. The children fled, but several were overcome with fear and could not move.

"Tom went to take one girl out of the line of fire, which he did successfully, but when he went back, as he knelt down [to collect another], he was shot."

Mr Hurndall said the Israelis had initially admitted someone had been shot, but claimed it had been a gunman who had opened fire first.

After photographs of Tom having been shot in the head emerged, the Israeli military later admitted that Hayb - a sentry who had won prizes for marksmanship - had shot him using telescopic sights.

"They just lied continuously," Mr Hurndall's father said. "It was a case of them shooting civilians and then making up a story. And they were not used to being challenged."

There had been a "general policy" for soldiers to be able to shoot civilians in that area without fear of reprisals, he added.

Although Hayb had been sentenced, the issue of the "culture" within the Israeli army had not been addressed, he said. "This goes much higher up the chain."

The ten-strong jury at the inquest into the death of Mr Hurndall, a Manchester Metropolitan University student, also expressed its "dismay with the lack of cooperation from the Israeli authorities".

Mr Hurndall was shot a mile away from where the award-winning cameraman James Miller had died three weeks beforehand. Last week, a jury ruled the Israeli defence force had deliberately killed the 34-year-old during the incident in May 2003. [see below]


The coroner, Dr Andrew Reid, said he would be writing to the attorney general to see whether there was any further legal action that could be taken in relation to the deaths.

Partridge
04-10-2006, 03:12 PM
[Note: This is a report of a different inquest into the murder of a different British citizen in the Occupied Territories, this one a journalist]
Briton shot by Israelis was murdered, says inquest jury
Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1748854,00.html)

The shooting dead of British cameraman James Miller by an Israeli soldier in Gaza was murder, an inquest jury found yesterday. The jury also said Israeli authorities had "not been forthcoming" about how and why Miller, 34, was killed by a single shot fired by the soldier.The verdict provides Miller's family with a springboard to seek the Israeli soldier's prosecution in Britain for intentionally shooting dead an unarmed non-combatant. The family's lawyers said the killing breached the Geneva convention and the jury's finding that the shooting was intentional put pressure on the British government to act.

They will press the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, to seek the extradition and prosecution of the soldier in Britain for the May 2003 murder if Israel continues to refuses to try him. Miller's killer was named at St Pancras coroner's court in London as Lieutenant Heib.

The coroner, Andrew Reid, said he would write to the attorney general about how similar fatalities could be prevented. A court official said this could include a request for Lord Goldsmith to examine how the soldier could be prosecuted.

The jury unanimously found that Miller, from Braunton, Devon, was unlawfully killed. Its forewoman said: "This was an unlawful shooting with the intention of killing Mr James Miller. Therefore we can come to no other conclusion than that Mr Miller was indeed murdered." At that moment the cameraman's family started to sob. The jury added: "It is a fact that from day one to this inquest the Israeli authorities have not been forthcoming in the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Miller's death."

Miller was making a documentary when he was killed as he and colleagues tried to leave a Palestinian house where they had been filming. An award-winning documentary maker, he and two colleagues were clad in body armour and protective helmets and clutching a white flag with a torch shining on it when they came under fire from an Israeli armoured personnel carrier.

After the verdict, the cameraman's sister, Katie Miller, said: "I wake up every morning and I am struck by the horror of the fact that somebody murdered James. It is still another point in the journey."

Colonel Geoffrey Miller, the cameraman's father, said: "It's been three years of protracted torture brought about by the Israelis." The family alleged at the inquest that Foreign Office officials had tried to pressure them into giving in to Israeli demands. Col Miller said of the British government: "They've been totally supine and ineffective. At one stage they were as obstructive as the Israelis."

Miller's mother, Eileen, 67, said: "We've managed to rally enough resources to fight this, but Palestinians can't fight this, and there's been hundreds of Palestinian deaths."

The Israeli embassy said a two-year investigation had been carried out into the shooting, but the results were "inconclusive and could not provide a basis for proceeding under criminal law".

A spokesman for the attorney general said: "The attorney general has asked to see a full report of the inquest, including the evidence that was given, so he may consider the implications of the verdict."

PhilosophyGenius
04-10-2006, 03:25 PM
A few British reporters (I think) were shot by the IDF and they claimed as well that they knew who they were.