An Israeli court sentenced a former border policeman to nine months in prison and an additional six-month suspended sentence on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a teenage Palestinian rioter in 2014, prompting protests from the teen's family who demanded a tougher sentence.
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.
The court found that 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 riots.
Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to inflicting severe bodily harm and death through negligence. He was also ordered to pay the victim's family damages in the amount of 50,000 shekels ($14,000).
"This is not how justice is done," Nuwara's father Issam said after the sentencing. "I never expected the Israeli court to do justice for my martyred son, but I had to do all I can to present a solid case and to expose the Israeli judicial system before the world and I did."
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned the sentence as "ludicrous."
She compared its severity to that of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, who is serving an eight-month prison term for assaulting 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.
