LOS ANGELES: The man convicted of shooting dead Robert Kennedy in 1968 was denied parole in California on Wednesday, thwarting his latest effort to leave prison.
Sirhan Sirhan, now 78, has been behind bars for more than five decades — despite doubts that he fired the shots that likely changed the course of US politics.
Kennedy, the younger brother of slain president John F. Kennedy, was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination himself when he was gunned down in a Los Angeles hotel.
Sirhan’s latest request for parole — he became eligible in 1972 — was denied by a California board on Wednesday.
A different board had greenlit his release in August 2021, but California Governor Gavin Newsom reversed that decision in January of the following year.
Newsom, who is also a Democrat, said at the time that Sirhan “poses an unreasonable threat to public safety.”
He said the decision was based on several factors “including Mr. Sirhan’s refusal to accept responsibility for his crime.”
Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death in 1969 after pleading guilty, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment several years later.
Doubts around Sirhan’s culpability have swirled since his trial, when it was revealed that Kennedy was shot at point-blank range from behind, but witnesses said Sirhan was standing in front of him.
Later, evidence emerged that as many as 13 shots were fired, yet Sirhan’s gun could only hold eight bullets.
Suspicion over the verdict led Kennedy’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to visit Sirhan in prison.
“I went there because I was curious and disturbed by what I had seen in the evidence,” he told the Washington Post in 2018.
“I was disturbed that the wrong person might have been convicted of killing my father.”
He and his youngest brother, Douglas, supported Sirhan’s 2021 attempt at release.
A Palestinian immigrant, Sirhan said at the time of the assassination that his actions were motivated by Kennedy’s support for military sales to Israel.
During a 2016 parole hearing, he said he had drunk too much the night of the shooting, and that his prior confession was the result of bad legal advice from his lawyer.
Robert Kennedy’s assassin denied parole again
https://arab.news/b2y5q
Robert Kennedy’s assassin denied parole again
- Sirhan B. Sirhan was convicted in 1969 after pleading guilty of assassinating Robert Kennedy in 1968, but doubts have swirled as evidence emerged that as many as 13 shots were fired, yet Sirhan’s gun could hold only 8 bullets
Italy arrests nine over alleged Hamas funding through charities
- The Palestinian group has been designated by the European Union as a terrorist organization
- Prosecutors said those arrested diverted to Hamas-linked entities around $8.24 million raised over the last two years
ROME: Italian prosecutors said on Saturday they had arrested nine people on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units.
The suspects are accused of “belonging to and having financed” the Palestinian group, which the European Union designates as a terrorist organization, prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Genoa said in a statement.
Those arrested allegedly diverted to Hamas-linked entities around 7 million euros ($8.24 million) raised over the last two years for ostensibly humanitarian purposes, prosecutors said. Police seized assets worth more than 8 million euros.
The investigation began after suspicious financial transactions were flagged and expanded through cooperation with Dutch authorities and other EU countries, coordinated through the EU judicial agency Eurojust.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked the authorities for “a particularly complex and important operation” which had uncovered financing for Hamas through “so-called charity organizations.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meloni’s support for Israel during its war with Hamas in Gaza has triggered large and repeated street protests in Italy.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 people, according to the enclave’s health ministry. It was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
