Officers sentenced for leaving man to die

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JERUSALEM, July 9 (UPI) -- An Israeli judge sentenced two police officers to 2 1/2 years in prison Monday for leaving an injured Palestinian man to die by a road in 2008.

Judge Haim Liran said there's no rational explanation for why officers Baruch Peretz and Assaf Yakutieli would leave a man, who was barefoot, in hospital pajamas and with a urinary tract catheter attached, by the side of the road with no food or water in the middle of the summer, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The injured man, Abu Jariban, died of dehydration.

Peretz and Yakutieli, who were convicted in May, said they expected Jariban would be picked up by other Palestinians passing through the area, the newspaper said.

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Monday ruled the men had been "completely closed off" from the distress of Jariban and any human with "eyes in his head and compassion in his heart" would not have left him to die.

Jariban had been involved in an accident in a stolen car and was initially hospitalized for his injuries. He was released into police custody to be admitted to an Israel Prison Service medical facility. Since the facility was full, the officers decided to leave Jariban by the side of a road, the Post reported.