JERUSALEM – Israel today charged a police officer with “reckless homicide” for allegedly shooting dead an unarmed Palestinian man with autism in the Old City here last year, said the Justice Ministry.
Iyad Hallak, 32, was killed in May 2020 while walking to his special needs school in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, after officers mistakenly thought he was armed.
His family previously said Hallak had the mental age of an 8-year-old, and witnesses said he panicked after being shouted at by police.
Hallak reportedly ran, triggering a chase, with cops firing at his legs.
Police said they thought Hallak was reaching for a pistol, when he was actually looking for his phone in his pocket.
“Although Iyad was on the ground and wounded as a result of the first shot, and held nothing in his hands, and did nothing to justify it, the suspect shot towards the upper part of Iyad’s body,” said the indictment.
His funeral drew thousands of mourners, while online, the hashtag #PalestinianLivesMatter echoed the fury of mass protests against police violence and racism in the United States.
The Justice Ministry last year said the officer did not follow police rules for opening fire, and that Hallak “posed no danger to police or civilians at the scene”.
The cop, who has not been named, faces a sentence of up to 12 years if found guilty.
At the time, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Hallak’s death a “war crime” and an “execution”, while then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his death was a “tragedy”. – AFP, June 17, 2021
