Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, seen here in 2017, was a Turkish American volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.
Turkey Files 'Premeditated Murder' Charge After Israel Kills Turkish-American Activist
One American eyewitness cited in the case says Israeli occupation forces "directly targeted with intent to kill" Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi.
Turkey's Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has reportedly filed charges of "premeditated murder" against the Israeli soldiers who, according to eyewitnesses, deliberately targeted a Turkish-American activist who was fatally shot in the head while peacefully protesting the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Anadolu reported Sunday that the Turkish agency is classifying the September 6 killing of 26-year-old International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as a "crime against humanity."
The agency submitted evidence including eyewitness statements, photos, video footage, and an autopsy report to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office as part of an effort to identify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers responsible for Eygi's killing.
Last month, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country intends to seek international arrest warrants for those who killed Eygi.
Eygi, a recent University of Washington graduate, was shot during a march in Beita against Israel's apartheid settlements. American activist Alex Chabbott said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas immediately after the march began. Chabbott and other witnesses said they heard gunshots coming from a nearby rooftop and then saw Eygi lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from her head.
Chabbott said Eygi was "directly targeted with intent to kill." British activist Dominic Robin Sedol accused IDF soldiers of shooting with "the intent to kill Ayşe directly." Jonathan Pasternak, an Israeli activist who attended the march with Eygi, said the troops "had directly targeted Ayşenur."
While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops shot Eygi, IDF officials have called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.
Progressive members of U.S. Congress, rights groups, and others including the parents of Rachel Corrie—the U.S. ISM volunteer crushed to death in 2003 by an IDF bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank—have joined Eygi's family in calling for an independent investigation of the activist's killing.
However, U.S. President Joe Biden—who has approved billions of dollars in military aid as part of his "unwavering" support for Israel—was widely denounced for repeating the IDF's claim that Eygi was accidentally killed when a bullet "ricocheted off the ground."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who called Eygi's killing "unprovoked and unjustified"—nevertheless signaled that there would be no U.S. probe of the incident, prompting Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, to lament that the Israeli military "can kill Americans and get away with it."
Last week, a group of Department of Justice lawyers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for an investigation into Israel's killing of Americans including Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh.
On Friday, more than 500 people gathered at the University of Washington in Seattle for an "evening of reflection" on Eygi's life and activism.
"We deserve to know what happened," Özden Bennett, Eygi's older sister, said during the event, according to The Daily. "We deserve to know who killed her, and we deserve to know why. We're asking once again, for President Biden, Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken, who we still have not heard from, to act."
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Turkey's Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has reportedly filed charges of "premeditated murder" against the Israeli soldiers who, according to eyewitnesses, deliberately targeted a Turkish-American activist who was fatally shot in the head while peacefully protesting the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Anadolu reported Sunday that the Turkish agency is classifying the September 6 killing of 26-year-old International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as a "crime against humanity."
The agency submitted evidence including eyewitness statements, photos, video footage, and an autopsy report to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office as part of an effort to identify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers responsible for Eygi's killing.
Last month, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country intends to seek international arrest warrants for those who killed Eygi.
Eygi, a recent University of Washington graduate, was shot during a march in Beita against Israel's apartheid settlements. American activist Alex Chabbott said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas immediately after the march began. Chabbott and other witnesses said they heard gunshots coming from a nearby rooftop and then saw Eygi lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from her head.
Chabbott said Eygi was "directly targeted with intent to kill." British activist Dominic Robin Sedol accused IDF soldiers of shooting with "the intent to kill Ayşe directly." Jonathan Pasternak, an Israeli activist who attended the march with Eygi, said the troops "had directly targeted Ayşenur."
While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops shot Eygi, IDF officials have called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.
Progressive members of U.S. Congress, rights groups, and others including the parents of Rachel Corrie—the U.S. ISM volunteer crushed to death in 2003 by an IDF bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank—have joined Eygi's family in calling for an independent investigation of the activist's killing.
However, U.S. President Joe Biden—who has approved billions of dollars in military aid as part of his "unwavering" support for Israel—was widely denounced for repeating the IDF's claim that Eygi was accidentally killed when a bullet "ricocheted off the ground."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who called Eygi's killing "unprovoked and unjustified"—nevertheless signaled that there would be no U.S. probe of the incident, prompting Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, to lament that the Israeli military "can kill Americans and get away with it."
Last week, a group of Department of Justice lawyers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for an investigation into Israel's killing of Americans including Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh.
On Friday, more than 500 people gathered at the University of Washington in Seattle for an "evening of reflection" on Eygi's life and activism.
"We deserve to know what happened," Özden Bennett, Eygi's older sister, said during the event, according to The Daily. "We deserve to know who killed her, and we deserve to know why. We're asking once again, for President Biden, Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken, who we still have not heard from, to act."
- As Biden Defers to Israel, Turkey Plans Arrest Warrants for IDF Killers of Aysenur Eygi ›
- Jayapal Slams Israeli Government After US Activist Killed in West Bank ›
- Israeli Forces Reportedly Kill US Human Rights Activist With 'Deliberate Shot to the Head' ›
- Sanders Urges DOJ Probe Into Israeli Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi ›
- Rachel Corrie's Parents Urge Probe Into Israel's Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi ›
Turkey's Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has reportedly filed charges of "premeditated murder" against the Israeli soldiers who, according to eyewitnesses, deliberately targeted a Turkish-American activist who was fatally shot in the head while peacefully protesting the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Anadolu reported Sunday that the Turkish agency is classifying the September 6 killing of 26-year-old International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as a "crime against humanity."
The agency submitted evidence including eyewitness statements, photos, video footage, and an autopsy report to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office as part of an effort to identify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers responsible for Eygi's killing.
Last month, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country intends to seek international arrest warrants for those who killed Eygi.
Eygi, a recent University of Washington graduate, was shot during a march in Beita against Israel's apartheid settlements. American activist Alex Chabbott said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas immediately after the march began. Chabbott and other witnesses said they heard gunshots coming from a nearby rooftop and then saw Eygi lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from her head.
Chabbott said Eygi was "directly targeted with intent to kill." British activist Dominic Robin Sedol accused IDF soldiers of shooting with "the intent to kill Ayşe directly." Jonathan Pasternak, an Israeli activist who attended the march with Eygi, said the troops "had directly targeted Ayşenur."
While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops shot Eygi, IDF officials have called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.
Progressive members of U.S. Congress, rights groups, and others including the parents of Rachel Corrie—the U.S. ISM volunteer crushed to death in 2003 by an IDF bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank—have joined Eygi's family in calling for an independent investigation of the activist's killing.
However, U.S. President Joe Biden—who has approved billions of dollars in military aid as part of his "unwavering" support for Israel—was widely denounced for repeating the IDF's claim that Eygi was accidentally killed when a bullet "ricocheted off the ground."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who called Eygi's killing "unprovoked and unjustified"—nevertheless signaled that there would be no U.S. probe of the incident, prompting Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, to lament that the Israeli military "can kill Americans and get away with it."
Last week, a group of Department of Justice lawyers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for an investigation into Israel's killing of Americans including Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh.
On Friday, more than 500 people gathered at the University of Washington in Seattle for an "evening of reflection" on Eygi's life and activism.
"We deserve to know what happened," Özden Bennett, Eygi's older sister, said during the event, according to The Daily. "We deserve to know who killed her, and we deserve to know why. We're asking once again, for President Biden, Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken, who we still have not heard from, to act."
- As Biden Defers to Israel, Turkey Plans Arrest Warrants for IDF Killers of Aysenur Eygi ›
- Jayapal Slams Israeli Government After US Activist Killed in West Bank ›
- Israeli Forces Reportedly Kill US Human Rights Activist With 'Deliberate Shot to the Head' ›
- Sanders Urges DOJ Probe Into Israeli Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi ›
- Rachel Corrie's Parents Urge Probe Into Israel's Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi ›