|
|
 |
| |
Tom Hurndall’s parents Anthony and Jocelyn with QC
Michael Mansfield (right)
Shot: Tom Hurndall |
'We will pursue Israeli officers through court'
Family vow after intentional killing
verdict on activist shot in Gaza
THE mother of Tom Hurndall, the Tufnell Park peace activist
shot by an Israeli Army sniper three years ago, has warned that
the family will push for a private prosecution if officers considered
responsible for the killing are not held to account.
She was speaking after a St Pancras inquest jury this week unanimously
decided Mr Hurndall had been “intentionally killed”.
Jocelyn Hurndall, of Burghley Gardens, said yesterday (Wednesday)
that the family’s lawyer would be pressing for a meeting
with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw or Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.
She and her husband Anthony want the British government to hold
five Israeli Army officers to account for the shooting which
has resulted in the jailing of a soldier for manslaughter.
Mrs Hurndall added: “We very much hope we will be able
to meet with either of them to pressurise the British government
into putting pressure on Israel’s government for an investigation.”
She said that, if Israel did not comply, the British government
could apply for a European arrest warrant.
And she warned: “If the British government don’t meet
their obligations we will consider taking out a private prosecution
against the five officers.”
Her son, a 21-year-old student, was shot in the head in Rafah,
Gaza, on April 11, 2003 as he protected Palestinian children
from flying bullets. He remained in a coma for nine months but
died at the specialist Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability in
Putney on January 13, 2004.
In August 2005 an Israeli judge sentenced a soldier in the Israeli
Army to eight years’ imprisonment for manslaughter.
But on Monday Michael Mansfield QC, the Hurndall family’s
barrister, accused the Israeli authorities of making a scapegoat
of Sergeant Taysir Hayb, who is appealing against his conviction.
The St Pancras inquest, in which the Israeli authorities refused
to participate, heard how Sergeant Hayb claimed he had been
given permission to shoot civilians by commanding officers.
Following Monday’s verdict, coroner Dr Andrew Reid announced
he would be taking the exceptional step of writing to Lord Goldsmith.
He told the inquest that he would implore the British government
to use the Geneva Convention to extradite the five commanding
officers. He warned that British lives were at risk if they
travelled to Israel.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Mansfield said: “Make no
mistake about it, the Israeli defence force have today been
found culpable by this jury of murder.”
At the hearing, Mrs Hurndall had said it was “shocking”
neither Prime Minister Tony Blair nor Mr Straw had condemned
her son’s killing.
She and her husband travelled to Gaza as soon as they heard
their son had been shot. They spent seven weeks with him in
an Israeli hospital. He was then flown to the Royal Free Hospital
in Hampstead but transferred to the specialist hospital in Putney.
Mrs Hurndall’s ordeal in Gaza was made worse when a vehicle
she was travelling in was shot at.
Her husband, a City lawyer, accused the Israeli government of
“lying” about the shooting and claimed members of
the Israeli Army had repeatedly changed their stories.
Mrs Hurndall told the inquest that initial reports by the Israeli
Army claimed her son had been caught in crossfire.
Later claims suggested the student had been pointing a gun and
was dressed like a terrorist in camouflage clothing, but all
were proven untrue.
She told the jury: “We tried repeatedly over seven weeks
to get a meeting to ask for their evidence, to see what they
could provide. We imagined they (Israeli authorities) would
want to take part in a collective way of generating evidence
together, that they wanted to get to the truth as well.
“It was a deeply shocking experience to see very clearly
that they were not interested in getting to the truth.”
She added: “To this day, Tony Blair has never publicly
condemned the shooting of Tom and it was necessary for the Israelis
to hear a condemnation from him because it would be a message
that conveyed they have to come up with the truth.”
Her husband revealed to the inquest that eye-witnesses, including
a South African photographer, reported there had been 30 children
playing before the soldier opened fire.
They said between eight and 14 shots were fired and some of
the children “froze” in terror.
His son had already carried a boy to safety but returned and
was shot with a little girl in his arms.
Mrs Hurndall told the inquest Sergeant Hayb “did what was
expected of him”. She added: “He had been told to
shoot everyone going there (no-go zone) who looks suspicious.”
Her son had just offered reassuring words to a Palestinian man
called Mohammed seconds before he was shot. Mrs Hurndall said
her son “had put his hands on his shoulders and told him:
‘We want to do something to make a difference’.”
She added: “Those were his last words.”
Describing her son as “gifted” and an “extremely
bright young man”, Mrs Hurndall fought back tears as she
read aloud from his journal, written just days before he was
shot.
A volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, Mr Hurndall
had just arrived in Gaza on April 6, 2003 when he wrote, in
what would prove startlingly pertinent words: “I wondered
what it would be like to be shot, and strangely I wasn’t
too scared.”
The jury of five men and five women returned a verdict that
the student was shot with the intention to kill.
The jury spokeswoman told the inquest: “The jury would
like to express their dismay at the lack of co-operation from
the Israeli authority in this case.” |
|
|
|
