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I hope you have all seen reporting over the past few days about the video of the shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahma in the Palestinian town of Ni'lin and the obvious abusive use of force by the Israeli Occupation Forces. If not, briefly, Rahma was handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten, and eventually shot at close range by a rubber coated steel bullet fired by an IOF soldier. The event was documented by a 14 year old girl who captured this human rights abuse on video from the window of her home. The video shows that Rahma was handcuffed and blindfolded when he was shot, and clearly identifies the face of the soldier who shot him. Residents of Ni’lin have since seen this soldier, who continued to serve his unit in Ni’lin. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who held Rahma’s arm as the soldier deliberately fired the shot.

As the petition notes: "The shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahma is consistent with the abuse that Palestinians suffer at the hands of the IOF, and consistent with the abuse that the people of Ni'lin suffer as they exercise their basic human right to protest against the construction of the illegal apartheid wall that is being built on their land....."

The petition demands that the soldier in question, his lieutenant commander, and all others involved in this incident are brought to justice. This shouldn't even be a question.

Please consider signing the petition and please circulate as they need as many signatures as possible within this week.

Video can be watched at: [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/