Inquiry call after activist shot

Mr Hurndall was working with a peace group when he was shot

Friends of a peace campaigner who was shot in the head in Israel are demanding an independent judicial inquiry into his case.

Their demand came on Wednesday, on Tom Hurndall's 22nd birthday, as they prepared to hold a party for him outside the Foreign Office to raise the campaign's profile.

Mr Hurndall, from London and a former Manchester student, has been in a persistent vegetative state since he was shot in the Gaza Strip in April this year.

Doctors believe he is unlikely to recover and last month began legal moves to switch off his life support machine.

Mr Hurndall's campaign group, International Solidarity Movement, said he was trying to protect women and children in the town of Rafah when the incident happened.

'Rudimentary cover-up'

His parents, Anthony and Jocelyn, from Tufnell Park, north London, believe the Israeli authorities' report into his shooting was "inaccurate and a rudimentary cover-up".

They have since produced their own report, which they say takes into account eyewitness statements and photographs.

Following their campaign the Israeli advocate general agreed to conduct a military police investigation into the shooting.

Mr Hurndall - who studied at Manchester Metropolitan University - is currently in intensive care at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney, south-west London.

Family friend Carl Arrindell said last month doctors wanted to switch his life support machine off because "the quality of life is so low there is a question as to whether it is right to keep him like that."

"The legal process does involve consulting with the family but does not require them to agree with the decision," said Mr Arrindell.

"The decision is made by the specialists."