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Days of Palestine – Ramallah
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for the opening of an independent international investigation into the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.
The Monitor expressed their concern over the US dismissal of the Israeli occupying forces’ intentional targeting of Palestinian journalists on 11 May 2022, which resulted in the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and injury of Ali Sammoudi, as mere “tragic circumstances” and not an intentional war crime.
In a statement on Monday evening, the Euro-Med Monitor said that what the US State Department announced that independent investigators were unable to reach a final conclusion about the projectile, which was killed Shireen Abu Akleh.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ballistics experts were unable “to reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet that killed the Palestinian-American journalist,” and decided “that the bullet was severely damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion!”
The statement added that the investigation concluded that “shooting from Israeli army positions was most likely responsible for the killing of the journalist, but it did not find any reason to believe that this was deliberate, but rather as a result of tragic circumstances during a military operation led by the Israeli army against the Palestinians in Jenin.”
The Euro-Med Monitor indicated that the result of the investigation appeared to be an attempt to exonerate those responsible for the killing of journalist “Abu Akleh”, especially since the Euro-Med Monitor’s field investigations after the incident indicated that the journalist was killed by an Israeli bullet below her ear in the unprotected area of the helmet she was wearing in a way that seemed to be deliberate, before continuing Army soldiers opened fire at anyone who approached to help her.
The Monitor stressed that the result of the investigation, which failed to achieve justice for the journalist, reinforces the demand for an independent international investigation, at a time when it seems that it comes as part of the policy of impunity, and encourages the commission of more violations.
The head of the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor, Rami Abdo, said: “Do not neglect justice for Palestinian journalist Abu Aqila, and access to justice is a clear path; an independent and serious international investigation to ensure accountability, fairness and impunity.”
Abdo pointed out that the American position on the case of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, who holds American citizenship, was negative from the beginning, as there was no strong position on the crime compared to other victims of American citizenship who were killed in other locations around the world.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said: The killing of the journalist may constitute a war crime, and accordingly a transparent and independent international investigation must be opened, based on the Minnesota Protocol Relating to the Investigation of Unlawful Deaths (2016).
He stressed that these developments impose urgent responsibilities on the relevant United Nations bodies to take measures and mechanisms to ensure that there is no impunity, especially since “Israel” has a long record of refraining from conducting independent investigations, as it conducted – in many cases – formal investigations that ended in often without results.
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