Last July, the Israeli District Court acquitted an Israeli soldier who killed autistic Palestinian man Iyad Hallaq in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 30, 2020.
The Israeli State Attorney’s Office informed on Monday the family of Iyad Hallaq of its decision not to appeal the Jerusalem District Court’s acquittal of the soldier who killed their 32-year-old autistic son in Jerusalem’s Old City in May 2020, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said in a statement.
The State Attorney’s office’s decision not to appeal was communicated to Hallaq’s parents merely two days before the final deadline for submitting an appeal, which is September 6.
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The family, together with their attorneys Khaled Zabarqa, Mizan Organization for Human Rights, and Adalah, are currently considering filing a petition to the Supreme Court against the decision.
On May 30, 2020, Israeli occupation police officers shot and killed Hallaq in East Jerusalem. Soon after the murder, Israeli reports falsely claimed that the autistic man was carrying a “suspicious object that looked like a pistol.”
Later, it was claimed, also by Israeli sources, that Hallaq was carrying a toy gun.
However, according to eyewitnesses, when Hallaq was shot and fell on the ground, he was merely holding his gloves and a face mask.
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Hallaq’s brutal murder by Israeli soldiers sparked outrage and protests throughout Palestine.
The Israeli court acquitted the policeman of any wrongdoing and only claimed that he “acted recklessly.”
This is not the first case in which members of the Israeli occupation forces have been acquitted of the charges against them.
Recently, an Israeli court also decided to close the investigation file for the Israeli soldiers involved in the killing of elderly Palestinian-American, Omar Asaad, 80, from the village of Jaljalia, north of Ramallah.
(PC, WAFA)
