Israeli Supreme Court ordered for the second time to review evidences in the death case of Palestinian girl Abir Aramin
NoVA
21-10-2009
Print
Send to friendIt has been almost three years since ten-year old Abir Aramin died as a result of what the IDF termed an "injury to the head". It has been three years since this little girl left school at recess and never returned. It has been three years and no border patrol soldier has been charged (for "lack of evidence") and no one has been held accountable for the lack of evidence recovered (apart from the rubber bullet that hit Abir, which was collected from the floor by Abir’s sister). Abir was the daughter of Bassam Aramin, founder of Israeli-Palestinian organization "Combatants for Peace"
Source: Jerusalem Post
On October 13 the Supreme Court ordered Isreali state attorney and the government legal counselor to review the investigation case of the death of the Palestinian 10 year-old girl, Abir Bassam Aramin, from Anata Village, Jerusalem.
Bassam and Salwa Aramin, parents of the little girl, asked the Israeli High Court to order the state to indict a border policeman who had fired rubber bullets at the stone-throwers and allegedly hit their daughter, Abir, in the back of the head. Abir Aramin had left school a few minutes earlier, bought candy in a store across the street and had been walking toward the entrance to the village with her sister and two friends when she suddenly collapsed after being struck in the back of the head. She died two days later. Two pathologists who performed an autopsy on Aramin concluded that her wound corresponded to that caused by a rubber bullet, but could not rule out the possibility that it had been caused by a stone of similar size.
The lawyers representing Bassem family filed the petition on behalf of the Aramins in June 2008, after the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office announced that it was closing the file without filing indictments due to lack of evidence, and subsequently rejected an appeal by Yesh Din to reconsider the decision.
Sfard told the court that according to the testimony of the border policemen, there had been two groups of stone-throwers, one concentrated at the village cemetery and the other at the school. He added that the border police jeep had driven to the main square, facing two streets that came together in a v-shape in front of them. On the street to the left were the stone-throwers. On the street to the right were Abir and the other girls. It would have taken only a small error of judgment to hit the girl rather than the stone-throwers, said Sfard.On the other hand, he continued, the stone-throwers at the school were too far away to hit Abir, while the stone-throwers at the cemetery could not have hit her because a three-story building stood between them and the girl.
Video of Abir's father, Bassam, explaining the death of his daughter
