Palestinian envoy ‘not aware’ of British student Hannah Bladon’s death
Professor Manuel Hassassian says he did not know who the 20-year-old was, following her tragic death in Jerusalem last month
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has said he is “not aware” of a deadly attack on a British exchange student by a Palestinian man in Jerusalem last month.
Professor Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Authority representative in London, astonished an audience of students at Imperial College on Thursday last week, when answering a question about the attack on the 20-year old, and payments subsequently made to the attacker.
“I’m not aware of this incident,” he said, when asked about Jamil Tamimi, 57, a mentally-challenged Palestinian man who said he attacked Birmingham University student Hannah Bladon because he wanted Israeli police to shoot and kill him.
Tamimi, who attacked and killed Bladon on the Jerusalem Light Rail just hours before being told by his son that the family wanted nothing to do with him, had previously received treatment in the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, and had sought to kill himself before. He has since been deemed unfit for trial after psychological assessment.
The 14 April killing received widespread reporting in the UK, with footballers from Derby County – who Bladon supported – holding a minute’s silence ahead of their recent game against Huddersfield Town.
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