Nine-month sentence described as ‘ridiculous’ by father of 17-year-old who posed no threat

An Israeli border police officer who fatally shot a Palestinian teenager at a demonstration while the boy was posing no threat to soldiers has been sentenced to nine months in prison after a protracted court process.

The father of 17-year-old Nadeem Nawara, whose case was covered by the Guardian and other international media four years ago, described the sentence for causing death by negligence as “ridiculous” and claimed that the officer, Ben Deri, had murdered his son.

Deri’s plea bargain was held up by the teenager’s family and others in comparison to the long prison sentences typically handed down by the courts to Palestinians found guilty of killing Israelis.

Nadeem was one of three Palestinian teenagers shot with live ammunition over a period of over an hour during a stone-throwing demonstration near Ofer prison on 15 May 2014, the day each year when Palestinians mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, the war around the time of the creation of Israel in 1948.

Mohammad Salameh, 16, was fatally shot an hour after Nawara, and Mohamed al-Azi, who was 15 at the time, survived a gunshot wound to the chest.

At the time an Israeli military spokesman tried to deflect outrage over the shootings, claiming footage had been edited to present an unfair picture of events.

The sentence on Wednesday comes as Israeli security forces’ use of live fire is again in the spotlight after the fatal shooting of several dozen Palestinians at the Gaza border fence in recent weeks

Deri was tried only for firing the fatal shots that killed Nadeem, as only the teenager’s family allowed for the body to be exhumed and an autopsy to be carried out. The examination found Nadeem had been killed by an Israeli M16 roundto the chest.

The prosecution demonstrated in court that police and soldiers at the scene had been ordered only to use rubber-coated steel pellets, and that Deri had replaced the magazine on his M16 with one containing live rounds.

At 1.45pm, four minutes after Nadeem threw a stone at Israeli forces, Deri shot him in the chest. Video footage seen by the Guardian at the time and taken from a nearby security camera showed that Nadeem was 80-200 metres from the soldiers when he was shot.

The court agreed to a plea bargain which dropped a charge of manslaughter, describing Deri’s actions as having involving a “high degree of negligence” when he loaded his weapon with live bullets. Deri was ordered to pay the victim’s family $14,000 (£10,000).

“This is not how justice is done,” said Nadeem’s father, Siam Nawara, after the sentencing. “I never expected the Israeli court to do justice for my martyred son, but I had to do all I can to present a solid case and to expose the Israeli judicial system before the world and I did.”

He added: “Ben Deri who murders – and I am convinced that he intentionally committed murder – gets nine months and in the height of chutzpah I hear that they are considering appealing the severity of the sentence.

“We are dealing with an entire system that discriminates on the basis of race and arrives at decisions that are far from just.”

The case leaves multiple questions unanswered, including whether it was Deri or or others who fired the other live rounds. The court accepted that Deri had made two weapons handling errors that led him to fire the round that killed Nadeem.

The method used by Israeli border police to fire large rubber bullets from an M16 rifle requires the use of a long barrel extension preventing live rounds being fired through it. The rubber bullet is placed in the extension and blank cartridges are loaded into the gun itself, with the force of the explosion from the blanks propelling the projectile.

“The defendant did not check that his magazine contained only blanks and did not load a rubber bullet into the [barrel extension] as required. These two oversights, which amount to gross negligence, caused the death of the deceased,” the court judgment said.</s>April 25 (UPI) -- An Israeli border police officer was sentenced to nine months in prison Wednesday for shooting a Palestinian teenager to death during a protest.

Judge Daniel Teperberg found officer Ben Deri guilty of causing death by negligence by firing live ammunition instead of rubber bullets at 17-year-old Nadeem Nawara when ordered to disperse a crowd of protestors during a Nakba Day demonstration on May 15, 2014, in the West Bank village of Beitunia.

In addition to serving nine months in prison he was ordered to pay a $14,000 fine to Nawara's family for damages.

"Against protocol and despite the deceased not representing a threat to the unit, the defendant aimed his weapon at the center mass of the deceased's body and fired at him with the intent to harm," the court ruled.

According to the court's ruling, Deri's decision to fire the live rounds into the crowd required two acts of negligence.

"The defendant did not check that his magazine contained only blanks and did not load a rubber bullet into the Roma as required. These two oversights, which amount to gross negligence, caused the death of the deceased," the court said.

Deri was initially charged with manslaughter, but the charged was reduced as part of a plea deal in which he admitted to accidentally using the live rounds.

Prosecutors requested Deri be sentenced to 20 to 27 months in prison, but Tepperberg said the nine-month sentence was a balance of his record as a border police men and the order he received to quell a riot. The court also decided to count two months Deri has already spent in jail as served time.

Deri's lawyer, Zion Amir, said he was pleased the sentenced was lessened, but added he would appeal the sentencing in hopes of reducing it further.</s>Jerusalem (CNN) Tension filled the small Jerusalem courtroom as a family sat meters away from the man who killed their son, waiting to hear the judge's verdict.

The defendant, Ben Deri, arrived accompanied by his family and girlfriend.

Deri was serving as an Israeli border policeman four years ago when clashes erupted near the West Bank village of Beitunya.

The date was May 15 -- when Palestinians mark the "Nakba" or Catastrophe, in memory of the more than 700,000 people who were either driven from, or fled, their homes during the Arab-Israeli war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

CNN producer Kareem Khadder had a camera in hand and was filming at the precise moment Deri aimed and fired his rifle at Nadeem Nuwara. Nearby CCTV cameras captured the 17-year-old Palestinian walking unarmed before collapsing as a bullet entered his chest. A second Palestinian teenager was shot and killed by Israeli forces just over an hour later.

An Israeli military spokesman said a preliminary inquiry showed that live fire had not been used. Later investigations proved otherwise

State prosecutors initially charged Deri with manslaughter, arguing that he knowingly used live ammunition. Under a plea deal, that charge was reduced to negligent homicide, with Deri admitting to an accidental use of live rounds.

To the end, Nuwara's family was convinced that Deri knew the type of ammunition he was using.

"Ben Deri's mentor described a responsible, accurate, committed and disciplined soldier," Siam Nuwara, Nadeem's father, told CNN. "I agree with the witness. Ben Deri is accurate and truly plans ahead. He knew very well what he was doing."

Judge Daniel Teperberg sentenced Deri to nine months in prison, and ordered him to pay Nuwara's family 50,000 Israeli shekels, or nearly $14,000. As the judge read the sentence, Deri's mother cried. Nuwara's family fumed with rage and called the decision a joke.

"Nadeem's case is the strongest," Siam told CNN after the trial. "We have all the evidence, strong evidence, but there is no justice in Israel."

Deri, flanked by his family and girlfriend, dodged journalists as he left the court just after the verdict. His lawyer, Zion Amir, said he was happy with the reduced charge and sentence, but insisted the case should never have gone to trial in the first place.

"We don't like the fact they are putting fighters on trial under circumstances like these," Amir told journalists. "We think [the soldiers and police officers] are carrying out their roles."

Video of the incident, including the material from CNN and captured by CCTV, helped build a picture of events. The court subpoenaed CNN's footage and ordered CNN producer Kareem Khadder to testify to defend the video's authenticity and recount the shooting.

"I saw a border police officer playing with his rifle, and later aiming at the protesters," Khadder recalled for the court.

"I waited until he fired, and waited further for a military personnel next to him to fire at the protesters, before panning the camera on to the protesters. During that time, I heard protesters in the distance shouting, 'Isaaf, Isaaf' -- they were calling for an ambulance."

A United Nations report about the incident found that Nuwara, and the other teen killed later, did not present a direct threat when they were shot.

The judge agreed with the report. His sentencing detailed how the rock-throwing had ceased by the time Deri shot Nuwara.

"Against procedures, and despite the fact there was no threat from the deceased [Nuwara] to the soldiers, the accused pointed his gun at the direction of the chest of the deceased and fired at him," the judgment read. It added that -- crucially -- Deri fired under the belief he was shooting a rubber bullet.

Palestinians said the killing and the subsequent verdict highlighted a double standard in the occupied West Bank, a place where they say Israeli soldiers and settlers act without real consequence.

"Such a conviction represents Israel's deliberate dehumanization of its Palestinian victims, primarily children, which is the outcome of decades of the military occupation that holds an entire nation under captivity, and employs an unremitting and lethal shoot-to-kill policy against Palestinians," Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement condemning the verdict.

Prosecutors said they were disappointed with the sentence, but added that it sent an important message to Israeli security forces.

"We thought the sentence should have been longer, but still the fact the court says someone will go to jail although he was there as a soldier has a powerful meaning," prosecutor Gula Cohen told CNN after the trial.</s>JERUSALEM — An Israeli court sentenced a border police officer to nine months in prison on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a stone-throwing teenage Palestinian protester in 2014.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled that Ben Deri unjustly opened fire during demonstrations in the West Bank four years ago. The shooting killed 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara, who did not pose an immediate threat to Deri's life, according to the court's ruling.

It said Deri exhibited a "high degree of negligence" when he loaded his weapon with a live bullet rather than the rubber coated bullets typically used to disperse Palestinian demonstrations.

Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to causing severe bodily harm and death through negligence. He was also ordered to pay the victim's family $14,000.</s>An Israeli court sentenced a border policeman to nine months in prison on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a stone-throwing teenage Palestinian protester in 2014.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled that Ben Deri unjustly opened fire during demonstrations in the West Bank four years ago. The shooting killed 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara, who did not pose an immediate threat to Deri's life, according to the court's ruling.

It said Deri exhibited a "high degree of negligence" when he loaded his weapon with a live bullet rather than the rubber coated bullets typically used to disperse Palestinian demonstrations.

Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to causing severe bodily harm and death through negligence. He was also ordered to pay the victim's family $14,000.

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned the length of the sentence as "ludicrous." She compared its severity to that of a Palestinian teenager, Ahed Tamimi, who is serving an eight-month prison term for slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers outside her West Bank home.

"This unwarranted and unjust decision represents a double standard in Israel's outrageous sentences passed against Palestinians by Israeli military courts while Israeli occupation forces and illegal and extremist settlers are given free license to act with complete impunity," she said in a statement.</s>Israeli border policeman Ben Deri has been sentenced to just nine months in prison for ‘negligent homicide’ after shooting dead 16-year-old Nadim Nuwara on Nakba Day four years ago, in 2014.

Under a plea deal, Deri was today ordered to pay 50,000 shekels ($13,960) in compensation for Nuwara’s death, and will only serve seven months in prison as the sentence includes time served.

Nadim and another Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Daher, were killed during an unarmed Nakba Day protest on May 15, 2014, in the Palestinian town of Beitunia, near Ramallah.

After a video of the shooting emerged, clearly showing Israeli occupation forces targeting unarmed teenagers, who didn’t pose a threat, the US State Department called for the incident to be investigated.

The prosecution also noted that Deri “has expressed no regret and taken no responsibility”.

Few soldiers face repercussions of any kind; last year the Israeli military police announced that an army officer who opened fire on a car of Palestinian civilians returning from a swimming trip, killing a 15-year-old boy, would face no charges.

Siam Nuwara, the father of the victim, said that he wasn’t surprised by what he defines as a ‘ridiculous’ sentence.

“It’s interesting that the boy Ahmed Mansara, who was convicted, gets 13 years in prison,” said Nuwara, referring to a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who was sentenced to 12 years in prison (then reduced to nine-and-a-half years by the Supreme Court), for allegedly trying to stab a Jewish settler.</s>FILE: Prosecutors had originally filed full manslaughter charges against Deri, accusing him of deliberately switching his rubber bullets for the live round that killed Nuwara at Beitunia village in the occupied West Bank. Photo: AFP

JERUSALEM - An Israeli former paramilitary policeman was jailed for nine months on Wednesday for killing a teenage Palestinian protester in 2014, prompting protests from the youngster's family who demanded a tougher sentence.

In a plea bargain, defendant Ben Deri had earlier confessed to the negligent manslaughter and aggravated injury of 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara - less serious than the full manslaughter charge he originally faced.

"This is not how justice is done," Nuwara's father Issam told Reuters after the sentencing.

"I never expected the Israeli court to do justice for my martyred son, but I had to do all I can to present a solid case and to expose the Israeli judicial system before the world and I did."

Prosecutors had originally filed full manslaughter charges against Deri, accusing him of deliberately switching his rubber bullets for the live round that killed Nuwara at Beitunia village in the occupied West Bank.

The amended indictment agreed to by Deri and approved by Jerusalem District Court, described the switch as accidental.

Negligent manslaughter carries a maximum three-year jail term in Israel. Manslaughter, by contrast, carries a maximum 20-year sentence as that charge can apply to deliberate killings where there is no clear evidence of premeditation.

The court handed Deri a nine-month jail term, an additional six-month suspended sentence, and ordered Deri to pay 50,000 shekels (R 174134.10) in damages to Nuwara's family.

Deri was convicted of aggravating injury after the court determined that he had aimed what he thought was a rubber bullet at Nuwara's chest at Beitunia on May 15, 2014.

A second teenage protester was killed in the Beitunia incident but Israel did not pursue charges in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out.

The court statement on Wednesday said the shooting took place after the stone-throwing by the protesters had ceased. "Contrary to regulations, and despite the fact that the deceased posed no threat to the (Israeli) unit, the defendant aimed his weapon at the torso of the deceased and fired at the deceased with the intent of injuring him."

The deaths stoked Palestinian fury at Israel in the weeks after U.S.-sponsored peace talks collapsed in April.

An Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, is due to be released from prison next month after serving two-thirds of a 14-month sentence for manslaughter over his killing of a wounded and incapacitated Palestinian assailant in the West Bank in 2016.

Azaria was originally sentenced to 18 months in jail, a term the Palestinian government condemned as a "green light" to kill with impunity. Israel's armed forces chief cut that sentence by four months and it was later shortened by a third for good behaviour.</s>JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli court on Wednesday (April 25) sentenced a police officer to nine months in jail over the fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager in 2014, an incident documented by video footage.

The sentence was handed down after policeman Ben Deri, 24, was found guilty of negligent homicide and also ordered to pay 50,000 shekels (S$14,000) to the family of Nadeem Nuwarah, who was 17.

Nuwarah was killed on May 15, 2014 during a day of clashes in Beitunia, south of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters marking the anniversary of what the Arabs term the Nakba, or "catastrophe", of the 1948 creation of Israel.

Footage recorded by US broadcaster CNN captured a group of five or six border police officers in the area, one of whom could be seen firing at the time when the youth was hit.

Another teenager was killed in the same location under similar circumstances a little over an hour later, with another seriously injured.

Deri was charged only over the first killing as the family of the second teen said they had no confidence in the Israeli court system, a statement from Defence for Children International said.

The CNN footage and other video appeared to dispute initial Israeli denials that their soldiers used live fire.

Judge Daniel Teperberg of the Jerusalem district court said the circumstances of the defendant's felony were "severe" and the degree of his negligence was "high".

Deri said during his trial he had mistakenly introduced live ammunition into his M-16 instead of rubber bullets.

Deri did not ensure his rifle was loaded with blank bullets and rubber-coated shells, Teperberg said, noting the firing "was carried out without justification".

Siam Nuwarah, Nadeem's father, told AFP the family was not part of the plea deal confirmed by the court, in which he had no faith.

"We went to the Israeli court because there's no other way, but this is a lack of justice that will breed violence," he said.

Ayed Abu Qtaish from CDI said the sentence was too lenient. "It's almost what a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones," he told AFP by phone.

Beitunia was that day the scene of remote skirmishes between young stone throwers and Israeli forces.

CNN images from the day show, according to the channel, Nuwarah throwing a stone at the Israeli forces.

CCTV showed the two teens falling down in the same place 15 minutes apart.

Border guards, a unit on the police, are regularly engaged alongside the Israeli army in the face of Palestinian unrest.

The court accepted a guilty plea deal on that basis that Deri had cooperated with the investigation and had no previous record of wrongdoing.

The sentencing comes as Palestinians and Israelis prepare for another commemoration of the "Nakba" on May 15.

The 2014 protests and increase in tensions eventually escalated into a full scale war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.</s>The parents of late Palestinian teenager Nadeem Nuwarah, who was killed by an Israeli occupation forces in 2014 in Beitunia in the occupied West Bank, are seen at the district court in Jerusalem on Wednesday (AFP photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An Israeli court on Wednesday sentenced an Israeli occupation soldier to nine months in jail over the fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager in 2014, an incident documented by video footage.

The sentence was handed down after Ben Deri, 24, was found guilty of negligent homicide and also ordered to pay 50,000 shekels ($14,000) to the family of Nadeem Nuwarah, who was 17.

Nuwarah was killed on May 15, 2014, during a day of protests in Beitunia, south of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, with Palestinian demonstrators mourning the anniversary of what the Arabs term the Nakba, or "catastrophe”, which marked mass expulsions and violence amid the 1948 creation of Israel.

Footage recorded by US broadcaster CNN captured a group of five or six Israeli occupation forces in the area, one of whom could be seen firing at the time when the youth was hit.

Another teenager was killed in the same location under similar circumstances a little over an hour later, with another seriously injured.

Deri was charged only over the first killing as the family of the second teen said they had no confidence in the Israeli court system, a statement from Defence for Children International (DCI) said.

The CNN footage and other video appeared to dispute initial Israeli denials that their occupation forces used live fire.

Judge Daniel Teperberg of the Jerusalem district court said the circumstances of the defendant's felony were "severe" and the degree of his negligence was "high".

Deri claimed during his trial he had “mistakenly” introduced live ammunition into his M-16 instead of rubber bullets.

Deri did not ensure his rifle was loaded with blank bullets and rubber-coated shells, Teperberg said, noting the firing "was carried out without justification".

Siam Nuwarah, Nadeem’s father, told AFP the family was not part of the plea deal confirmed by the court, in which he had no faith.

“We went to the Israeli court because there’s no other way, but this is a lack of justice that will breed violence,” he said.

Ayed Abu Qtaish from DCI said the sentence was too lenient. “It’s almost what a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones,” he told AFP by phone.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the sentence reflected “Israel’s deliberate dehumanisation of its Palestinian victims”.

This, she said, was a result of the occupation of the West Bank that “holds an entire nation under captivity and employs an unremitting and lethal shoot-to-kill policy against Palestinians”.

Deri’s action “constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law”, Ashrawi said, warning that if the international community “remains silent, the injustice and oppression of the Palestinian people will continue unabated”.

Beitunia was that day the scene of remote skirmishes between young protesters and Israeli occupation forces.

CNN images from the day show, according to the channel, Nuwarah throwing a stone at the Israeli forces.

CCTV showed the two teens falling down in the same place one hour and 15 minutes apart.

The court accepted a guilty plea deal on that basis that Deri had cooperated with the investigation and had “no previous record of wrongdoing”.

The sentencing comes as Palestinians and Israelis prepare for another commemoration of the “Nakba” on May 15.</s>Relatives of an unarmed Palestinian teen killed by an Israeli officer four years ago have slammed a nine-month sentence handed by an Israeli court to the member of the security forces, saying it exposes how "unjust" Israel's judicial system is.

Israeli border police officer Ben Deri was filmed shooting dead Nadim Nuwarra in May 2014 during a protest at the Beitunia checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, even though the 17-year-old posed no danger.

A second teenage protester, Mohammad Abu Thaher, 16, was also hit with live rounds and killed. Israel did not make an arrest in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out.

In a plea bargain, the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday handed Deri a nine-month jail term, an additional six-month suspended sentence and ordered him to pay 50,000 shekels ($14,000) in damages to Nuwarra's family.

Under last year's plea deal, Deri had his original charge of manslaughter reduced to negligent use of a firearm. Prosecutors accepted Deri's claim that he had mistakenly loaded a live round into his rifle when he intended to shoot a rubber bullet.

Nuwara's family at the time called the plea agreement a "trick" and "shame on the Israeli justice system".

Siam Nuwarra, Nadim's father, has over the years fought a long legal battle on behalf of his son - from the moment, he says, he found a live bullet in the backpack Nadim was wearing when he was shot dead.

"I have proven that Israel has no justice or fairness when it comes to Palestinians," he told Al Jazeera.

"I proved this with evidence, because the case of Nadim is one of the strongest cases in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - by evidence, it proves Nadim was intentionally killed."

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi also condemned the length of the sentence as "ludicrous", comparing it to that of Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager sentenced to eight months on assault and incitement charges after slapping an Israeli soldier.

"This unwarranted and unjust decision represents a double standard in Israel's outrageous sentences passed against Palestinians by Israeli military courts while Israeli occupation forces and illegal and extremist settlers are given free license to act with complete impunity," Ashrawi said in a statement.

Ammar Dweik, of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, agreed.

"Ahed Tamimi is a child who slapped a soldier and received almost the same sentence as a soldier who put an end to the life of a Palestinian child," he said.

"So you can compare the double standards that the Israeli justice system is following."

The Israeli police declined to comment on Deri's sentencing.
Israeli border police officer Ben Deri receives a 9-month sentence for fatally shooting Palestinian teen Nadeem Nawara in 2014. Deri was convicted of causing the unarmed boy's death by negligence. No charges were brought over the shootings of two other teens, one of whom also died. The court heard Deri used live ammunition without authorisation.