JERUSALEM (JTA) — The mother of a Palestinian man with autism who was shot and killed by police officers in eastern Jerusalem two weeks ago has called for security camera footage of her son’s last moments to be made public.
Border Police officers shot and killed Iyad Halak, 32, as he walked through the Old City of Jerusalem on May 30 on the way to the Elwyn school for children and adults with disabilities. Officers said they mistook a cell phone in Halak’s hands for a weapon, then grew alarmed after Halak did not stop when ordered to. When Halak started running, the officers chased him to a garbage room where they shot him at least seven times.
Security cameras are positioned in the alleys through which police chased Halak, and in the room where he was killed.
“If it were an Arab shooting a Jew, the video would have been published worldwide the same day, but in my son’s case, they will not release anything,” Halak’s mother, Rana, told Ynet late Friday.
Her advocacy comes as bystander video of George Floyd’s death in police custody in the United States has ignited a worldwide protest movement against police brutality.
Video in Halak’s case could confirm two significant bystander accounts. Iyad Halak’s caregiver, who was with him at the time of the incident, told Israeli media that she informed the officers that he was disabled and could not understand their commands.
A second witness told the human rights watchdog group B’Tselem last week that he was in the garbage room and saw Halak get shot as he was lying injured on the ground. He confirmed that the caregiver continued to tell the police that Halak was disabled.
