Ramallah, 21-08-08: Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, the General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, expresses deep concerns regarding the new violent aggression perpetrated by the IOF on a Palestinian civilian this afternoon in the town of Ni’lin.
Haitham Elayam Ahmad Tantur, a 21 year-old man from Ni’lin was caught in the street and heavily beaten by the IOF this afternoon, after the army invaded the town.
Beaten with guns and wooden sticks in his head, neck, chest and arms, Haitham was injured with cut wound in his mouth, and three of his teeth were damaged.
While trying to stand up, a soldier shot rubber bullets at close range –less than 3 meters distance- that targeted the back of his head.
That final injury led to a ‘depressed facture of the skull’, resulting to a serious skull and brain injury. Haitham is now laying in Ramallah hospital, in the emergency department.
To Dr. Barghouthi “by shooting at close range in the head, it seems that the IOF is clearly attempting to kill an unarmed civilian.” He added that so-called rubber bullets can be lethal if shot from close range, which has frequently been the case in Ni‘lin.
This violent acts were perpetrated, two weeks after the death of Yusuf Ahmad Amira, a 19 year-old teenager from Ni’lin who was shot by two bullets in his head, and the death of the child 11 years old
To Dr. Barghouthi, “this heinous aggression highlights that the same Israeli unit is repeating the same barbaric acts in Ni’lin and that it is clear that the Israeli army tries to push and provoke Palestinians to use violence.”
Previous aggressions during the months of July already led to the death of on teenager and a Child hundreds of injured in Ni’lin.
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Contacts:
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: 0599/ 201 528