The Israeli Police Investigations Division (PID) decided to close its probe into the January killing of Ya’akub Abu-Al-Qi’an, and to not hold any officers responsible for his death, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said on Thursday.
Abu Al-Qi’an, a 50-year-old math teacher from Atir-Umm al-Hiran in the Naqab (Negev), Israel’s southern desert region, was killed on 18 January after Israeli police opened fire on his vehicle, as he was driving through the Bedouin village during state preparations for a large-scale home demolition.
That same day, according to WAFA, Adalah filed a request demanding the PID open an investigation into the killing.
“The closure of this investigation means the PID continues to grant legitimacy to deadly police violence against Arab citizens of Israel,” said Adalah in a statement responding to the PID’s decision to close the investigation without bringing any officers to justice.
“Though it was clear from day one that officers opened fire on a civilian without justification and in contravention of the police’s own open-fire regulations, it appears as if the PID is again whitewashing the most serious incidents. Just as the PID failed to hold any officers responsible for the October 2000 killings and the subsequent police killings of more than 50 Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, this latest decision is further indication of the systemic failure of the PID.”
Adalah added: “The Israeli police and public security minister continue to propagate the same lie they initially promoted the day of the killing, according to which the incident was an intentional vehicular ramming attack against Israeli police officers. This lie was repeatedly refuted by multiple sources and video documentation of the incident.”
It said that despite repeated requests, the PID has yet to provide the widow of Abu Al-Qi’an with her late husband’s autopsy report and ignored her requests to receive updates on developments in the investigation.
“We call on the Israeli state attorney to immediately bring to justice those responsible for the killing of Ya’akub Abu Al-Qi’an,” demanded Adalah.
