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July 7, 2023

"An Honest Mistake": Israeli Police Officer Acquitted of Killing Autistic Palestinian
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An Israeli court has acquitted a police officer over the shooting death
of an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man in occupied East Jerusalem. Iyad
al-Hallaq was a 32-year-old special needs student who attended and
worked at a school near where he was shot dead in Jerusalem's Old City.
His killing in May 2020 drew comparisons to the police killing of George
Floyd in the United States. On Thursday, a judge threw out the charges
against the officer - whose name was not made public - calling the
killing an "honest mistake." Iyad's mother, Rana al-Hallaq, said the
family was surprised by the ruling.

Rana al-Hallaq: "It's injustice. I never saw injustice like this against
a young man like my son. My son is buried in the cemetery, and the
killer is free and can travel around."



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