An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his
rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and said he would have
done the same if she had been 3 years old was acquitted on all charges
yesterday.
“Captain R”, was charged with minor offences for the killing of
Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli
army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.
The manner of Iman’s killing, and the revelation of a tape
recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child
who was “scared to death”, made the shooting one of the most
controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago
even though hundreds of other children have also died.
The military court cleared the soldier of perverting the course
of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their
accounts of the incident.
Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the
public benches and said: “I told you I was innocent.”
### The tape revealed that Imam was heading away
from the army post when she was shot. The captain shoot Iman twice
in the head, walk away, turn back and fire a stream of bullets into
her body.
