Recalled: Shah is to represent evidence
Journalists Saira Shah and Dan Edge, witnesses to the fatal shooting of colleague James Miller by Israeli soldiers last May, have been recalled by the military police inquiry to present their evidence next Monday.
Shah and Edge gave witness statements to the Israeli military attorney general’s lawyers, in the presence of a British embassy official, on 14 July.
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Evidence submitted included the white flag that Miller is understood to have waved at soldiers in the dark before he was shot. Video footage of the shooting in Gaza captured by APTN was also handed in.
The recall means that details of the final report, concluded in December, will be held back until the end of the month. High-ranking military police officers attached to the inquiry are expected to fly in to London from Israel for the hearing.
According to John Miller, brother of the deceased and a campaigner to bring the soldiers to trial, and the Miller family’s lawyer, Michael Sfard, Shah and Edge were asked back by the inquiry after “inconsistencies” arose from the lie detector tests administered to the soldiers involved in the shooting.
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They also believe that the separate ballistic tests carried out on the weapons by the inquiry and the Miller’s representative expert were also divergent, Miller told Press Gazette this week.
“According to military lawyers, the attorney general is not satisfied with the conclusion of the investigation.
As a criminal lawyer, I think the answers he got from Saira and Dan do not concur with what the soldiers said,” Sfard added.
The Israeli Defence Force has told the family it will not receive a copy of the report, and that the rule applies to Israeli citizens as well as the families of foreign nationals.
However, following a meeting with the British ambassador to Israel and the military attorney general, Major General Eiland agreed to let the family read the report, but they will have to travel to Israel to do so.
The recall of Shah and Edge occured as the Israeli soldier accused of shooting British photographer and activist Tom Hurndall was arrested. John Miller said his arrest was “excellent news”, though evidence with which to arrest him should have been found earlier on.
By Wale Azeez
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