An Israeli court sentenced a border policeman to nine months in prison today for the fatal shooting of a stone-throwing teenage Palestinian protester in 2014.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled that Ben Deri unjustly opened fire during demonstrations in the West Bank four years ago. The shooting killed 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara, who did not pose an immediate threat to Deri's life, according to the court's ruling.
It said Deri exhibited a "high degree of negligence" when he loaded his weapon with a live bullet rather than the rubber coated bullets typically used to disperse Palestinian demonstrations.
Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to causing severe bodily harm and death through negligence. He was also ordered to pay the victim's family $14,000.
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned the length of the sentence as "ludicrous." She compared its severity to that of a Palestinian teenager, Ahed Tamimi, who is serving an eight-month prison term for slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers outside her West Bank home.
"This unwarranted and unjust decision represents a double standard in Israel's outrageous sentences passed against Palestinians by Israeli military courts while Israeli occupation forces and illegal and extremist settlers are given free license to act with complete impunity," she said in a statement.
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