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href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Murder-Case-of-Iconic-Palestinian-Political-Cartoonist-Re-Opened-20170830-0042.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Murder-Case-of-Iconic-Palestinian-Political-Cartoonist-Re-Opened-20170830-0042.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Murder Case of Iconic Palestinian
Political Cartoonist Re-Opened<br>
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<div id="reader-estimated-time">August 30, 2017<br>
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<p>Handala, with his back to the viewer, dressed in
ragged clothes and bare-footed, has over the years
become a symbol for the Palestinian right to return.</p>
<p>The character's creator — Naji Salim Hussain al-Ali —
was murdered in broad daylight 30 years ago. The
suspects have yet to be found.</p>
<p>But three decades after the Palestinian cartoonist was
killed, UK police have launched a new probe into his
case, appealing for anyone who may have leads on who
killed al-Ali.</p>
<p>"A lot can change in 30 years — allegiances shift and
people who were not willing to speak at the time of the
murder may now be prepared to come forward with crucial
information," Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland
Yard's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) said in a police
statement Tuesday.</p>
<p>On August 29, 1987, al-Ali, while walking in West
London, was shot in the back of the neck. Witnesses at
the time said he had been pursued by a man for around 40
seconds just moments before. Another person was also
seen driving away from the scene.</p>
<p>Investigators have been searching for anyone who might
have information on the identity of the two men.</p>
<p>Al-Ali’s family has also welcomed the reopening of the
case. His son Osama said they were "encouraged" by it,
and hope that it will lead to “some path towards
resolution, so we know what happened”, according to
Ma’an.</p>
<p>The cartoonist had grown up in the Ain al-Hilweh
Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon before moving to
Kuwait. He had also worked alongside the <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ghassan-Kanafani-the-Palestinian-Revolutionary-Killed-by-Israeli-Intelligence-20170708-0022.html">Palestinian
revolutionary and novelist Ghassan Kanafani</a> who
first published al-Ali's drawings in 1961.</p>
<p>As al-Ali’s cartoons often satirized both Israeli and
Arab politics, many believe his murder was politically
motivated.</p>
<p>"At the time police arrested several suspects with
links to the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and
the Israeli intelligence service Mossad but with little
in the way of hard evidence. No one has ever been
charged with the murder," said Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan
from London.</p>
<p>"My brush is my only weapon, I use it to stand against
the vicious forces of evil in our world," al-Ali had
once said.</p>
<p><strong>WATCH: Silencing Palestine - Prison &
Repression</strong></p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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