Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter released to house arrest

Abdul Fatah al-Sharif's killer was released to house arrest after he completed his Israeli mandatory army service. He served only 16 months in open detention at an army base.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

20 July, 2017

Elor Azaria at trial with his mother [AFP]

The Israeli soldier convicted for the manslaughter of a Palestinian man lying incapacitated on the ground has been released to house arrest only seven months after he was convicted.

Elor Azaria was released following the completion of his mandatory army service and greeted at his family home with a large celebration.

Azaria spent a total of 16 months in detention at the Nachshonim army base for shooting and killing Abdul Fatah al-Sharif while he lay on the ground.

A video of the shooting on 24 March 2015 in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron went viral on social media.

Azaria told army investigators after the attack: "He deserved to die, he stabbed my friend".

Under the court's terms, Azaria will only be allowed to leave his family home for trips to the synagogue on Friday night and Saturday with the accompaniment of family members, the Times of Israel reported.


	From the archives: Azaria was found guilty of manslaughter in January

Azaria's lawyers told the court that he was not a threat and should therefore have only been given an evening curfew.

The prosecution has filed an appeal, to be heard on 30 July that Azaria's sentence was too lenient for the crime convicted.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said he favoured a total pardon for the ex-soldier, arguing that Azoria could be "the son of any Israeli".

Correction: A previous version of this article wrongly reported that Azaria had been convicted four months ago. In fact, he was convicted in early January.