Soldier jailed for eight years for killing British activist in Gaza

[Scurrilous]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/611406.html

<snip>

"A military court sentenced a former Israel Defense Forces soldier to eight years in prison on Thursday, after finding him guilty of the fatal shooting of a British pro-Palestinian activist in 2003.

Taysir El-Heyb was convicted in June of manslaughter for shooting activist Tom Hurndall in the head during a military operation in the Gaza Strip in April 2003. Witnesses said Hurndall, 22, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was helping Palestinian children avoid IDF tanks.

Hurndall's relatives criticized the sentence as too light, but said they hoped it would pave the way for further prosecutions.

Hurndall lay in a coma for nine months before dying in May 2005 in a London hospital. El-Heyb had argued that a confession he gave was forced. Taysir, a member of Israel's Bedouin minority, also said he was prosecuted because he is an Arab and because his victim was a foreigner."