Parole for Israeli soldier who shot British activist: media
AFP
JERUSALEM- An Israeli soldier jailed for killing a British activist in the Gaza Strip will be released after serving six-and-a-half years of an eight-year sentence, media reported on Monday.
Sergeant Taysir Wahid was convicted of manslaughter for killing Briton Tom Hurndall, an activist with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement.
A military court ordered Wahid freed next month, accepting his lawyer's claim that he deserved to have his sentence reduced for good behaviour, the Ynet news website reported.
The prosecution had argued that releasing the soldier early would harm Israel's diplomatic ties with Britain, Ynet said.
A military commission found that Wahid's behaviour had changed and that he no longer represented a danger, a military source said.
The commission had recommended that the soldier, who had served 80 percent of his original sentence, be released, the source added.
Hurndall, then 22, was shot in the head in the Rafah refugee camp in April 2003. He died in January 2004 in a London hospital after spending nine months in a persistent vegetative state.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The prosecution had argued that releasing the soldier early would harm Israel's diplomatic ties with Britain, Ynet said.
A military commission found that Wahid's behaviour had changed and that he no longer represented a danger, a military source said.
The commission had recommended that the soldier, who had served 80 percent of his original sentence, be released, the source added.
Hurndall, then 22, was shot in the head in the Rafah refugee camp in April 2003. He died in January 2004 in a London hospital after spending nine months in a persistent vegetative state.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------