Camden New Journal
Publications by New Journal Enterprises
spacer
  Home Archive Competition Jobs Tickets Accommodation Dating Contact us
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
By MAIRI MACDONALD
 

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.”
spacer
» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages













spacer


Theatre Music
Arts & Events Attractions
spacer
 
 


  up