Israeli Army captain acquitted of killing girl

JERUSALEM - An Israeli Army captain was yesterday acquitted of all charges arising from the killing of an innocent 13-year-old girl who was repeatedly shot by troops in southern Gaza in October last year.

The case was brought after soldiers in the captain's unit said he had fired at Iman al Hams at close range while she lay already wounded on the ground on the edge of the Rafah refugee camp.

A tape recording of Army exchanges at the scene also revealed that the soldiers knew she was a frightened child when they first shot her.

The dead girl's father yesterday reacted with anger and disbelief yesterday at the verdict delivered on Captain R, a Druze officer charged with improper use of his weapon, who during the trial denied claims by the soldiers that he had "emptied his magazine" by shooting the girl at point blank range to "confirm the kill."

The tape broadcast on Israeli television after the killing showed that a soldier in a nearby watchtower had identified the victim-before she was shot-as "a girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death." After that an officer, believed at the time to have been Captain R, is heard saying: "I and another soldier ...are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ...Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ...I also confirmed the kill. Over."

Although the Army claimed later that the tape had selectively quoted the exchanges, the same voice is clearly heard saying after the incident was over: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

The prosecution case suffered a blow when a principal witness from the unit changed his story and said that other soldiers falsely testified in the Israeli press against Captain R because they did not like the way he ran his unit.

The judges reportedly took the view that a video tape recorded by the Army at the time showing a suspicious figure in the area as the girl approached the base, vindicated his claim that he thought she had been sent out by militants to draw soldiers out of the base.

The bag which the Army said soldiers had thought might contain a bomb contained only text books.

The family's Israeli lawyer, Leah Tzemel, said she hoped that the military prosecutors would appeal the verdict but that she was still pursuing on behalf of the family a Supreme Court case to be heard in December seeking a series of rulings including against senior officers who had verbally declared the stretch of ground where Iman was killed a "death zone."

Iman's father Samir al Hams, contacted yesterday by Israel's Ynet internet news service, at first suggested that it must have been mistaken about the trial's outcome.

But he then said: "This is a wrong decision and a disaster for justice."

After the verdict the officer wept as he said: "I am happy and content. My account was the truth and I stuck to it from the beginning. I want to return and be a combat fighter...I hope that the [Israel Defence Forces] will learn its lessons from all the mistakes of this trial."

- INDEPENDENT