Adalah to Mahash: Investigate Border Police Shooting of a Palestinian Citizen of Israel in Kufr Qassem

On 17 September 2003, Adalah sent a letter to the director of the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit ("Mahash"), Attorney Herzel Shviro, demanding that Mahash conduct an investigation and recommend that the Border Police officer responsible for shooting a Palestinian citizen of Israel in Kufr Qassem be criminally indicted. The letter was prepared by Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal.

In the early afternoon on 11 September 2003, Mr. Salah Amer, was shot in the waist from close range by a Border Police officer. At the time of the shooting, Mr. Amer was attempting to convince a Border Police patrol unit to release his son and nephew from custody and to call an ambulance for them to receive medical attention. Mr. Amer saw his son, who had been badly beaten, sitting in the police car, visibly injured and handcuffed. The Border Police refused, upon which Mr. Amer was shot.

In the letter, Adalah demanded that Mahash immediately open an investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Amer's shooting and the beating of his son and nephew, as well as recommend the criminal prosecution of those found to be responsible. Six photographs taken at the scene accompany the letter. The photographs clearly show the faces of a few Border Police present in Kufr Qassem at the time. One photograph shows Mr. Amer lying on the ground, after being shot; his son is next to him, also lying on the ground and handcuffed.

Adalah argued in the letter that there was no danger to the Border Police or to anyone else, at the time of the shooting. Thus, the Border Police violated the rules that bind the police regarding the use of force. “Without a doubt, there was no justification for the behavior of the Border Police, not to mention the shooting of Mr. Salah,” Adalah contended. Adalah further argued that the behavior of the Border Police presents a clear breach of the police internal procedures as well as constitutes a criminal offense.

To view the photographs submitted by Adalah to Mahash, see www.adalah.org/eng/kufrqassem.html.