We are sad to announce that today Israel’s High Court of Justice denied the petition in the case of Umm Al-Hiran. The petition requested the State to reopen the investigation into the death of Yaakub Abu Alqian, a resident of the unrecognized Bedouin village Umm AlHiran, in the course of the village’s evacuation in 2017 as well as to exonorate his name of suspicion of terrorism and restore his dignity as a law-abiding citizen.PCATI regrets the decision which, yet again, expresses the lack of accountability and impunity of police officers resorting to excessive violence against the Bedouin community in Israel. PCATI and the Abu Alqian family stated in response to today’s ruling: “We are disappointed and shocked by the HCJ’s decision to align with the legal system that failed to expose the truth. Unequivocal evidence was presented to the Court both in regards of the responsibility of the police officers who caused the death of the late Yaakub and who later lied during their interrogation and in regards to Yaakub’s innocence. As the Honorable Justice Grosskopf wrote, ‘If it is not possible to decide with a high degree of certainty that he acted with intent, then legally, the late Yaakub Abu-Alqian was and remains innocent’. The outcome that an innocent citizen has paid with his life and no one is indicted for it and the state denying to clear Yaakub’s name, adds guilt to the crime. We will continue to demand that justice be done to the late Yaakub.”

More about the case in Haaretz