Israeli authorities have cleared the police of the charge of inflicting coma-inducing head injury to an American during a protest against the erection of an Israeli barrier.

The officials claimed that there was no criminal intent on the part of the police, said The Washington Post, reporting on the follow-up to the March 2009 incident in the West Bank in which the 38-year-old Tristan Anderson was hit in the head with a high-velocity tear gas canister.

The victim has finally emerged from a months-long coma and can only communicate with basic sounds.

After the incident, the Israeli government said that the law enforcement agents could not be held responsible for the crime as the victim was injured at a demonstration against the Israeli-built apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin.

Tel Aviv has also labeled the protest in question as ‘an act of war’ although Anderson’s head injury was sustained during a peaceful demonstration.

The family members of the peace activist have vowed to file a lawsuit against Tel Aviv.

Andersons’ lawyer, Michael Sfard, has argued that branding a civil demonstration as an ‘act of war’ could only mean that Israel is at war with civilians. "International law identifies the incident as a clear case of human rights abuse,” he said. “We will pursue this matter and take the government of Israel to court."

The Post also reported that the rally Anderson attended was sponsored by the International Solidarity Movement, which has had legal battles with the Israeli regime, and two of its members have been killed in unrelated incidents involving Israeli forces in recent years.

(Press TV)