________________________________________________________
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION PROJECT
HRAP PRESS RELEASE NO. 9/98 7 DECEMBER 1998, 8:00 PM
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20 YEAR OLD BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY STUDENT SHOT IN THE
HEAD WITH RUBBER COATED STEEL BULLET
Naser Muhammad I'riqat in critical condition at
Muqassed Hospital, Jerusalem
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Birzeit--Today, 7 December 1998, Naser Muhammad I'riqat, a third
year Commerce student at Birzeit University, was shot in the head
with a rubber coated steel bullet by Israeli soldiers while standing
on the roof of his home in Abu Dis, Jerusalem. According to eye
witnesses, immediately after clashes erupted in the center of Abu
Dis village this afternoon where the I'riqat home is situated, Naser
climbed up to the roof of his home to bring his younger brother
down, fearing for his safety. Whilst on the roof, Naser was shot in
the head from a distance of less than 40 meters by nearby Israeli
soldiers.
Naser is currently in critical condition in the intensive care ward at
Muqassed Hospital, after undergoing emergency surgery to remove
the bullet and repair the severe damage caused to his skull and
brain. He is currently breathing with the aid of a life support
system. Hospital officials were not optimistic concerning his
recovery.
According to a recent report published by the Israeli human rights
organisation Bt'selem, "from the beginning of the intifada until the
end of October 1998, at least fifty-seven Palestinians have been
killed by rubber-coated steel bullets. Hundreds have been
wounded. The dead include twenty-eight children under seventeen,
of whom thirteen were under the age of thirteen. Since September
1993, when Israel and the PLO signed the Declaration of
Principles, rubber ammunition has killed fifteen Palestinians, seven
of them under the age of seventeen."
The Human Rights Action Project of Birzeit University condemns
the common use of fatal rubber coated steel bullets to disperse
demonstrations and calls on the Israeli authorities to prosecute
soldiers who do not abide by imposed Open Fire Regulations.
According to these regulations, the use of rubber coated steel
bullets to disperse demonstrators is permitted from a distance of
over 40 meters, aiming only at the leg area of the individual, and
only after other means of crowd dispersal have proven ineffective.
For more information, please contact the Human Rights Action
Project.
[ENDS]
________________________________________
The Human Rights Action Project was established at
Birzeit University in 1977 to monitor the growing
human rights violations against Birzeit students
and staff by the Israeli military authorities.
Birzeit University is an independent Palestinian
university 24 kilometers north of Jerusalem in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Human Rights Action Project (HRAP)
Public Relations Office
Birzeit University
P.O. Box 14, Birzeit
West Bank via Israel
Tel: +972-2-298-2059
Fax: +972-2-295-7656
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://www.birzeit.edu/hrap
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