With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday bakcing the pardoning of a soldier sentenced to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian assailant, the sentenced was deplored with the UN also saying it was “disturbed” by the light sentence.
It is likely that Azaria could walk free after serving 12 months of his sentence, and there have been several high-profile calls for the soldier to be pardoned altogether.
The murdered mans father, Yusri told reporters from his home in the West Bank that the family had never expected the Tel Aviv military court “show trial” to do the deceased man justice.
“Even though the soldier was caught on video and it is clear that this is a cold-blooded execution, he was convicted only of manslaughter, not murder, and the prosecution asked for only a light sentence of three years. The sentence he received is less than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones.”
There are hundreds of children imprisoned under the new stone-throwing legislation who were handed down longer sentences than Azaria, include five boys from east Jerusalem who were sentenced in March last year for throwing stones at cars:Saleh Ashraf Ishtayya, 16: three years and three months in prison, Muhammad Ahmad Jaber, 14: three years in prison, Murad Raed Alqam, 14: three years in prison, Muhammad Na’el Tayeh, 17: two years and four months in prison, Zaid Ayed al-Taweel, 16: two years and four months in prison.
In the same trial another young children, 14-year-old Omar Rani Yaseen received a one-year sentence, and Yazan Hani Ayoub, whose age was not given, was given one year and two months in prison.
Source: World Bulletin
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