The killing of an American activist on board a blockade-running aid flotilla amounted to an "execution" by Israeli forces, a UN committee has found. Furkan Dogan, 19, was shot point blank in the face as he lay on the deck "conscious or semi-conscious for some time" due to earlier bullet wounds, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The killing of Dogan and five Turkish activists aboard the boat should be considered "extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions," the report concluded.
The report was given to the US Embassy in July and passed on to the Justice Department. It's unclear if the US government will take any action related to the killing, given its close relationship with Israel. A State Department official has characterized the report's "tone and conclusions" as "unbalanced," reports Truth Out. Israel's blockade of Gaza came under sharp attack in the UN after the May killings.
(More Furkan Dogan stories.)