Today is the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of President JF Kennedy's brother Robert by Palestinian terrorist Sirhan Sirhan
Thursday, 06 June 2024
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan(/sɪərˈhɑːn/; Arabic:سرحان بشارة سرحانSirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān; born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian-Jordanian convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy Sr., a younger brother of American president John F. Kennedy and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1968 United States presidential election.Thanks to never-miss-a-trick Bill Thompson who writes:Today is the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Sen Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan.It seems supporters of Palestine have been deliberately killing civilians for decades…SIRHAN SIRHAN
Born
March 19, 1944Citizenship Jordanian Known for Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Criminal status Incarcerated atRichard J. Donovan Correctional Facility(as of 2024) Motive Anti-Zionism Conviction(s)
- First-degree murder
- assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder (5 counts)[1]
Criminal penalty Death by gas chamberin 1969;commutedtolife imprisonmentwith the possibility ofparolein 1972 Details Date June 5, 1968
12:15 a.m.Location(s) Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, United States Killed 1 (Robert F. Kennedy) Injured 5 Sirhan Bishara Sirhan(/sɪərˈhɑːn/; Arabic:سرحان بشارة سرحانSirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān; born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian-Jordanian convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy Sr., a younger brother of American president John F. Kennedy and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1968 United States presidential election. On June 5, 1968, Sirhan shot and mortally wounded Robert Kennedy shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. The circumstances surrounding the attack, which took place five years after his brother's assassination, have led to numerous conspiracy theories.
In 1989, Sirhan told British journalist David Frost: "My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 fighter jets to Israel to obviously do harm to the Palestinians." Some scholars believe that the assassination was the first major incident of political violence in the United States stemming from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict (Sirhan carried out the attack on the first anniversary of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War), though it occurred at a time when the American public was overwhelmingly focused on the Vietnam War.
On April 17, 1969, Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder, among other charges, and subsequently sentenced to death by gas chamber. In 1972, this was commuted to a life sentence in the aftermath ofFurman v. Georgia. He is incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego. On August 27, 2021, after 15 years of being denied parole by the local state board, Sirhan was granted parole by a two-person panel.Prosecutors declined to participate or to oppose his release under a policy by American lawyer George Gascón, the Los Angeles County District Attorney.On January 13, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom blocked Sirhan's release on parole. He was denied parole again on March 1, 2023.
