Israel's attorney-general has asked Britain for more information about an analysis of an audio recording which may shed new light on the killing of British journalist James Miller in Gaza in 2003, the Guardian has reported.
Britain's former attorney-general, Lord Goldsmith, wrote to his Israeli counterpart Menachem Mazuz in June, presenting the analysis and asking him to begin legal proceedings within six weeks against an Israeli officer suspected of firing the fatal shot.
The present attorney-general Baroness Scotland's office confirmed yesterday that it had received the letter from Mazuz, asking for more information on the expert evidence provided by the Metropolitan police regarding Miller's death.
The letter explained the new analysis of the audio track of footage filmed by an Associated Press Television News (APTN) crew at the time of the shooting, which the family's lawyers say indicates the shots were fired from the same source, an Israeli armoured vehicle. Israel has maintained there was crossfire in the area at the time and that it is not clear which side fired the fatal shot.
James Miller, a 34-yeard-old award-winning filmmaker, was filming a documentary about Palestinian children caught up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he was hit by a single shot in the neck four years ago.
Acording to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Miller was with a crew filming an HBO documentary on May 2, 2003 in the Gaza Strip. He and several crew members came under fire as they attempted to leave the area that evening. The crew members said they tried to identify themselves as journalists to Israeli troops in armoured personnel carriers about 100 metres away. Miller was shot once in the neck and died from his wound.
The journalists said they were wearing jackets and helmets marked "TV," and they held a white flag illuminated by a flashlight. The Israeli army said its troops were returning fire after being attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.
The incident also formed a key part of the documentary Death in Gaza made by Miller’s colleague Saira Shah who was with him when he died. The programme,broadcast by Channel 4 and US cable network HBO in 2004, won a host of awards, including three Emmys.
In April 2006 London's St Pancras Coroner's Court concluded that Miller was shot deliberately. "Based on the evidence laid before us, we, the jury, unanimously agree that this was an unlawful shooting with the intention of killing James Miller," the jury spokeswoman told the court. "Therefore we can come to no other conclusion than that Miller was indeed murdered."
An investigation sponsored by Miller's colleagues, family, and friends - conducted by British security consultant Chris Cobb-Smith of the security company Chiron Resources Limited - concluded that Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers "consciously and deliberately targeted" Miller and his crew. The report noted that the area where Miller's crew was operating had been quiet for about an hour before he was killed. Prior to that time, sporadic gunfire was heard but not in the journalists' vicinity.
Miller's family has criticiced IDF for taking excessive time to complete their inquiry; for failing to make public the army's initial investigative findings, and for providing only portions of the military police report into Miller's death. The family also criticised IDF for bulldozing the scene of the shooting hours after it occurred, and of failing to immediately collect critical evidence, such as the rifles of the army unit that was involved. In a disciplinary hearing in 2005, IDF acquitted the accused Captain Hib al-Heib of improper use of weapons.
Attorney Michael Sfard, who, together with attorney Avigdor Feldman, represents the Miller family in Israel, told the Jerusalem Post that if Israel refuses to try Haib or extradite him, it could create a severe crisis between the two countries. Israel and the UK have signed an extradition treaty.
