Israeli soldier guilty of killing British activist
This is the first time a soldier has been found guilty of killing a foreign citizen during four years of violence.
The defendant, Wahid Taysir, was accused of shooting Tom Hurndall in the head during an army operation in the Gaza Strip in April 2003. Witnesses said Mr Hurndall, 22, was helping Palestinian children avoid Israeli tanks.
Mr Hurndall lay in a coma for nine months before he died in a London hospital. Taysir’s lawyers claimed Mr Hurndall did not die directly from his wounds, but because of malpractice by British doctors.
Taysir, a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, also accused the court of racism.
In its ruling, the three-judge panel said there was no basis for the malpractice claim. The court found Taysir had shot Mr Hurndall with a sniper rifle using a telescopic sight, and said Taysir had given a “confused and even pathetic” version of events.
The court referred to a confession by Taysir, in which he said he wanted to teach Mr Hurndall a lesson for entering a forbidden area. Taysir admitted to aiming a bullet 10cm to the left of Mr Hurndall’s head to frighten him, but inadvertently struck the activist.
“From that moment, Sgt. Taysir began a broad campaign of lies and falsehoods to throw off the expected investigation and to remove any criminal guilt from himself.” wrote Col. Nir Avraham, the panel’s head judge.
Taysir also was convicted of obstruction of justice, submitting false testimony, obtaining false testimony and unbecoming behaviour. Taysir, who is to be sentenced in mid-August, faces up to 20 years in prison.
Mr Hurndall’s sister, Sophie, praised the verdict, but said the army must change its practices. “This kind of thing needs to stop happening. Until that has changed ... we won’t really have won,” she said.
Their father, Anthony, said the verdict “amounts to a limited justice.”
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