JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli soldier’s bullet to the head killed a supine Palestinian assailant, the autopsy determined, according to a Palestinian news agency.
Israeli doctors conducted the autopsy, which was completed Sunday, at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, with a Palestinian pathologist present. They all agreed on the findings, according to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society quoting the pathologist, Dr. Riad al-Ali, the Maan news service reported.
The soldier was seen in a video shooting Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, who with another Palestinian had stabbed Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron on March 24. Soldiers killed al-Sharif’s accomplice but only wounded al-Sharif, who was believed to be alive when the soldier shot him while he was supine on the road.
He was supine on the pavement on the road when he was shot by a soldier who has only been identified as Seargant A.
“The results of the autopsy were expected,” al-Ali said, according to the statement. “What the whole world saw on the video that documented the shooting was more than enough, but the autopsy results assured it.”
As of Sunday evening, Israeli officials had not confirmed the statement.
Prosecutors said last week that the soldier, who has been identified only as Sergeant A., will be charged with manslaughter. The soldier was moved Thursday from prison to a military base, where a military judge said he would remain unconfined but unarmed until a verdict is delivered in his case.
