Jerusalem - Israel's High Court ordered the military judge
advocate general Wednesday to refile charges against a lieutenant
colonel and a sergeant accused of shooting a bound Palestinian last
July.
The court ruled that the original indictment filed by the judge
advocate general was not harsh enough, and instructed that it be
changed from 'improper conduct' to something more fitting the
offence.
Accepting a petition filed by the victim and by four human rights
organizations, the court said the original indictment was
'unreasonable to an extreme degree.'
Harming an arrested person whose arms were bound, who was
blindfolded and helpless, was a cruel and harsh felony, necessitating
a fitting penal response, Justice Ayala Procaccia wrote.
The four Israeli human rights organizations - B'Tselem, The
Association for Civil Rights in Israel, The Public Committee Against
Torture and Yesh Din - welcomed the High Court's decision.
In a joint statement issued after the ruling, however, the
organizations also voiced concern that the High Court's intervention
was necessary for the army to take proper action against the
offenders.
'The many reports regarding violence by security forces in the
Occupied Territories, accompanied by feeble responses of the military
law-enforcement agencies, raise doubt as to the ability and
commitment of the army's command level to comply with essential moral
and legal norms,' the statement said.
The original incident took place on July 7, 2008 during a protest
against the security barrier Israel is building along the West bank.
Ashraf Abu Rahma was arrested during the demonstration. His hands
were bound, he was blindfolded and taken to a jeep by a battalion
commander and a sergeant.
While the battalion commander held Aby Rahma, the sergeant fired a
rubber-coated metal bullet at the prisoner, hitting him in the toe.
The sergeant said afterward that the battalion commander had
ordered him to fire. The battalion commander said he had only meant
to frighten the prisoner and had given no order to shoot.
The shooting came to public knowledge after B'Tselem distributed
a video clip of the incident, taken by a Palestinian. Once the video
was shown on television, the judge advocate general, Brigadier
Avihai Mandelblitt, ordered the military police to investigate the
matter.
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