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Israeli Court Rejects Appeal of Soldier Convicted of Manslaughter | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Caption:

Israeli soldier Elor Azaria (R), who was caught on video shooting a wounded Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground, is comforted by his mother during a hearing at a military court in Tel Aviv on May 9, 2016.
Azria, who also holds French citizenship, was charged with manslaughter and unbecoming conduct over the March 24 killing that took place in the southern West Bank city Hebron. A widely circulated video showed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, lying on the ground, shot along with another man after stabbing and moderately wounding a soldier minutes earlier, according to the army. / AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ


An Israeli martial court on Sunday rejected an appeal by a soldier convicted of manslaughter and upheld his 18-month prison sentence for shooting dead a prone Palestinian assailant, Israeli media reports said.

All reports said military judges also rejected an appeal by prosecutors to increase the 18-month sentence for Elor Azaria, a sergeant and military medic at the time of the incident, said AFP.

Azaria was convicted in January and sentenced the next month.

The March 2016 shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was caught on video by a rights group and spread widely online.

It showed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, lying wounded on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army.

Azaria then shot him in the head without any apparent provocation.

He said he feared Sharif was wearing an explosive belt and could blow himself up, a claim judges rejected.