GENEVA (11 May 2023) – On the one-year anniversary of Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing, UN experts raised the alarm today that justice for the journalist’s death has been denied.
“After a year, Israeli authorities have failed to hold the perpetrators of Abu Akleh’s killing accountable, while independent investigations have pointed at the culpability of Israeli forces. Justice remains, again, hostage of politics,” the experts said.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist and acclaimed correspondent for Al Jazeera, was shot dead on 11 May 2022, while performing her duty as a journalist reporting on Israel’s raid in the Jenin refugee camp. Several independent investigations carried out by various bodies and organisations, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, concluded that Abu Akleh was most likely killed by seemingly well-targeted shots fired by Israeli forces, despite her wearing clear identification as a journalist. Internal investigations carried out by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) found “a high possibility” that Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit” by IDF gunfire. However, to date, Israeli authorities have not opened a criminal investigation into her death or held anyone accountable.