Israeli police officer jailed over 2014 death of Palestinian teenager

Nine-month sentence described as ‘ridiculous’ by father of 17-year-old who posed no threat

Peter Beaumont
Wed 25 Apr 2018 14.34 BST

An Israeli border police officer who fatally shot a Palestinian teenager at a demonstration while the boy was posing no threat to soldiers has been sentenced to nine months in prison after a protracted court process.

The father of 17-year-old Nadeem Nawara, whose case was covered by the Guardian and other international media four years ago, described the sentence for causing death by negligence as “ridiculous” and claimed that the officer, Ben Deri, had murdered his son.

Deri’s plea bargain was held up by the teenager’s family and others in comparison to the long prison sentences typically handed down by the courts to Palestinians found guilty of killing Israelis.

Nadeem was one of three Palestinian teenagers shot with live ammunition over a period of over an hour during a stone-throwing demonstration near Ofer prison on 15 May 2014, the day each year when Palestinians mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, the war around the time of the creation of Israel in 1948.

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