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Tag: Shireen Abu Akleh

  • Shireen Abu Akleh killing: Al Jazeera proceeds to ICC for justice

    Qatari broadcaster says , the evidence presented refutes Israeli claims that the Palestinian journalist was killed in a crossfire.

    The Al Jazeera Media Network has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the death of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

    Abu Akleh, a 25-year Al Jazeera television correspondent, was killed by Israeli forces on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank.

    The 51-year-old Jerusalem native and US citizen was a well-known and respected journalist who gave Palestinians a voice through her coverage of Israel’s occupation.

    ‘A wider pattern’

    The request includes a dossier on a comprehensive six-month investigation by Al Jazeera that gathers all available eyewitness evidence and video footage as well as new material on the killing of Abu Akleh.

    The request submitted to the ICC is presented “in the context of a wider attack on Al Jazeera, and journalists in Palestine”, said Rodney Dixon KC, a lawyer for Al Jazeera, referring to incidents such as the bombing of the network’s Gaza office on May 15, 2021.

    “It’s not a single incident, it’s a killing that is part of a wider pattern that the prosecution should be investigating to identify those who are responsible for the killing, and to bring charges against them,” he said.

    “The focus is on Shireen, and this particular killing, this outrageous killing. But the evidence we submit looks at all of the acts against Al Jazeera because it has been targeted as an international media organisation.

    “And the evidence shows that what the [Israeli] authorities are trying to do is to shut it up,” Dixon told Al Jazeera.

    Al Jazeera hopes the ICC prosecutor “does actually start the investigation of this case” after the network’s request, Dixon said. The network’s request complements the complaint submitted to the ICC by Abu Akleh’s family in September, supported by the Palestinian Press Syndicate and the International Federation of Journalists.

    A new documentary by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines shows how Abu Akleh and other journalists, wearing protective helmets and bulletproof vests clearly marked with the word “PRESS”, were walking down a road in view of Israeli forces when they came under fire.

    Abu Akleh was shot in the head as she tried to shield herself by a carob tree. Al Jazeera producer Ali al-Samoudi was also shot in the shoulder.

    The new evidence submitted by Al Jazeera shows “Shireen and her colleagues were directly fired at by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)”, Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The statement added the evidence overturns claims by Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed in crossfire and that it “confirms, without any doubt, that there was no firing in the area where Shireen was, other than the IOF shooting directly at her”.

    “The evidence shows that this deliberate killing was part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera,” the statement said.

    Next steps

    Lina Abu Akleh, who has campaigned for justice for her aunt through media work and meetings with lawmakers in the US, where her aunt was a citizen, hopes Al Jazeera’s request will push the ICC to launch an independent investigation.

    Walid al-Omari, the Al Jazeera bureau chief in Jerusalem and a friend and colleague of Abu Akleh said that it is critical to keep the case alive in public opinion. “We don’t think Israel should escape from accountability.”

    Once the ICC has reviewed the evidence it will decide whether it will investigate Abu Akleh’s killing as part of ongoing investigations.

    In 2021, the ICC decided it has jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Al Jazeera’s submission requests that the killing of Abu Akleh become part of this wider investigation.

    “We’re making a request for an investigation that leads to charges being brought and those responsible being prosecuted,” said Dixon.

    Investigations carried out by the United Nations, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, and international news outlets concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli soldier.

    The Abu Akleh family has called for a “thorough, transparent investigation” by the US FBI and Department of State to reveal the chain of command that led to the death of a US citizen.

    “In short, we would like [US President] Biden to do in Shireen’s case what his and previous US administrations have failed to do when other American citizens were killed by Israel: Hold the killers accountable,” Lina Abu Akleh wrote in Al Jazeera in July.

    In November the US  announced an FBI probe into the killing of Abu Akleh, news welcomed by her family.

    But, Dixon cautioned, this probe should not be a reason for the ICC not to act.

    “They can they can work together with … the FBI, so that this case doesn’t fall between the cracks, and that those responsible are identified and put on trial.”

    Debunking shifting narratives

    The Fault Lines documentary also looks closely at Israel’s shifting narratives.

    Israel initially falsely blamed armed Palestinians for Abu Akleh’s death, but in September said there was a “high probability” an Israeli soldier “accidentally hit” the journalist but that it would not launch a criminal investigation.

    Hagai El-Ad, director of Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, which swiftly debunked the false claim by Israel that a Palestinian gunman was responsible for Abu Akleh’s death, told Fault Lines: “They’re also very used to getting away with lying about killings of Palestinians both in the public arena and in the legal arena.”

    “The reason why Al Jazeera made this request is because the Israeli authorities have done nothing to investigate the case. In fact, they’ve said that they will not investigate, that there’s no suspicion of a crime,” said Dixon.

    Al Jazeera Media Network calls the killing a “blatant murder” and a “heinous crime”.

    “Al Jazeera reiterates its commitment to achieving justice for Shireen and to exploring all avenues to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice,” said the Network.

  • Israeli forces kill a Palestinian student “en route to school”

    Palestinians say , Mahmoud al-Saadi, 18, was killed by the Israeli army on his way to school from the Jenin refugee camp.

    During an Israeli raid on the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin, a Palestinian high school student was reportedly shot dead while on his way to school.

    Mahmoud al-relatives Saadi’s confirmed to Al Jazeera that he was killed on Monday. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, he was 18 years old and was shot in the stomach.

    According to the ministry and local journalists, at least four other Palestinians were injured after being shot.

    The Palestinian Ministry of Education mourned al-Saadi in a statement on Monday. It said he was a student at the Farhat Hashad Boys Secondary School in Jenin and and that he had been killed on his way to school.

    Local journalist Mujahed al-Saadi told Al Jazeera that the teen was his distant relative and that witnesses he spoke to confirmed that he was killed while standing on the street headed to the classroom.

    “He was headed out of the camp. He was surprised by the army, and the army shot him moments before they pulled out [of the camp],” Mujahed told Al Jazeera.

    The Israeli army said in a statement that they had returned fire during an operation to arrest nine wanted Palestinians.

    “During the activity, shots were fired, and charges were thrown at the forces in the area, the fighters shot at suspects who shot at them,” the statement said.

    The Palestinian foreign affairs ministry described the killing as a ” field execution” and a “heinous crime,” adding that it is “part of the daily series of killings against our people, with cover and approval at the Israeli political level.”

    It said it holds the “Israeli government fully and directly responsible for this crime,” and called on “the international community to provide international protection for our people.”

    Mujahed told Al Jazeera that Mahmoud was shot on the street adjacent to the one where Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while she was covering an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp. Mujahed was a few metres away from Abu Akleh when she was killed.

    Speaking about Mahmoud, Mujahed said his relative “was at the top of his class” and had three sisters.

    Dozens of Israeli armoured jeeps raided Jenin and its refugee camp on Monday, just before 8am (05:00 GMT). The raid lasted about an hour.

    In the camp, Israeli forces besieged the home of a wanted Palestinian man, Rateb al-Bali, while his family, including his children, were inside, and targeted the house with bullets and missiles.

    Mujahed said al-Bali was “at home with his father and other family members, including his nieces and nephews, and a pregnant relative”.

    “The army targeted the home with Energa grenades and bullets,” continued Mujahed, noting that no family members were injured.

    Al-Bali, who escaped unhurt, eventually emerged from the house with his father and handed himself over to the Israeli army.

    He has previously spent a year in Israeli prisons under administrative detention without trial or charge.

    Israeli forces have been carrying out near-daily raids, arrests and killings in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus, where Palestinian armed resistance is growing.

    Across the West Bank, however, Israeli forces have for decades regularly carried out raids into Palestinian cities and villages, often leading to injuries or killings of unarmed Palestinians.

    This year marks the highest number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the West Bank since 2006.

    Since the start of 2022, Israeli forces have killed at least 199 Palestinians, including 47 children, in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

    Close to 8,900 others have been wounded by the Israeli army this year until November 7, in the West Bank alone, the UN has reported.

    At least 25 people in Israel have also been killed this year in Palestinian attacks.

     

  • Mahama condemns killing of Al Jazeera reporter, demands justice for Ahmed Suale

    Former President John Dramani Mahama has denounced the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed while covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

    In a Facebook message, the former President expressed his condolences to the reporter’s family and urged for an independent investigation into his death.

    He praised Shireen Abu Akleh, describing her as an expert in her profession.

    “The killing of ace Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is a most condemnable act. For a journalist who has for many years covered and brought us reports of events in Israel and the Middle East region, we all mourn her loss. It is our prayer that whoever pulled the trigger and any associates will be brought to justice through an Independent and transparent process,” he said.

    The 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist died, while her producer survived a bullet wound. They were “presumably” shot by Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire, according to Israel’s prime minister.

    While commiserating with Al Jazeera on their loss, John Mahama took the opportunity to highlight the country’s rising number of journalist attacks.
    He urged President Akufo-Addo and the Ghana Police Service to speed up the investigation into the killing of Ahmed Hussein Suale, the head undercover investigator of Tiger Eye PI.

    He stated that the perpetrators of such a heinous crime should be held accountable.

    “Having said that, we also note that the murderers of Ghanaian journalist, Ahmed Suale, are still walking free. We call on the Akufo-Addo administration and the Police Service to take this investigation seriously and bring the murderers to justice”.

    On January 16, 2019, Ahmed Suale was assassinated in Madina, Accra. His death came as a result of his final inquiry (Number 12), which revealed corruption within the Ghana Football Association. The murder case has not been concluded three years after his death.

    Source: backend.theindependentghana.com