LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment , PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2- 5833317,
Israeli forces this morning, Tuesday extra judicially assassinated
Mohammad Murr (28) from Yatta, south of Hebron city.
According to information gathered by LAW, at around 3:55am this morning,
Israeli Special Forces, disguised as Arabs, assisted by regular Israeli
troops, entered Yatta, a large village south of Hebron city. They
surrounded the home of Mohammad Murr (28) in the Umm al-Sidr area. Murr
attempted to flee from his home. Special Forces opened fire at him,
shooting him in the left leg. Murr managed to reach his neighbors
garden, around 20 meters away, and fell down on the ground bleeding. A
soldier approached him from a distance of 10 meters, shot and killed him
instantly. Murr was unarmed.
LAW?s field worker noted that the victim had bullets scattered
throughout his body, and three bullets in the chest. Mohammad was
married with two children. He was a Hamas activist, wanted by Israel.
Yesterday, Monday (February 17), Israel assassinated Riyad Abu Zeid, a
Hamas activist in the Gaza Strip and two other Palestinians. On Sunday
(February 16), six Hamas members were killed in a mysterious explosion.
LAW?s figures indicate that at least 125 Palestinians have been killed
through extra-judicial killings, not including bystanders. Willful
killings prohibited under article 3 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention amount to grave breaches, which under the article 8 of the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Protocol One to the
Fourth Geneva Conventions are defined as war crimes.
Extra-judicial killings cannot be reconciled with the Fourth Geneva
Convention, which seek to protect the lives of protected persons, and
violate human rights norms that affirm the right to life and the
prohibition on execution of civilians.
LAW strongly condemns Israel's assassination policy. Israel is legally
responsible for the acts of its agents, and is under corresponding
obligations to ensure that its agents adhere to the Convention and to
prosecute those agents who commit grave breaches. All state signatories
to the Fourth Geneva Convention have also the right and are under a
positive obligation to seek out and prosecute individuals responsible
for committing or commissioning grave breaches, wherever the
perpetrators are. Article 148 of the Fourth Geneva states that 'no High
Contracting Party shall be allowed to absolve itself or any other High
Contracting Party of any liability incurred by itself or by any other
High Contracting Party...'
Israel's ongoing human rights violations further illustrates the need
for the immediate deployment of an international protection presence to
prevent violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and to protect
Palestinian protected persons within the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
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LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation
for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organization Against Torture
(OMCT)
