Success stories of Palestinian achievers from all over the world

Sirhan Sirhan

Personal Info

  • Country of residence: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in: 1944
  • Age: 78
  • Curriculum vitae :

Information

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (March 19, 1944) was a Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship who assassinated US Senator Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles, California, on June 5, 1968; Kennedy died the next day in hospital from his injuries. Sirhan has been convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence at Richard Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California. On August 27, 2021, Sarhan was granted conditional release, but the decision does not guarantee his release; The decision will be reviewed by California Parole officials within a 90-day period, and then sent to the state governor for a decision within 30 days.

Sarhan was born in Jerusalem to an Arab Christian family, attended a Lutheran school. In 1989, Sarhan told journalist David Frost, "My only relationship with Robert Kennedy was his only support for Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 bombers into Israel to harm the Palestinians." Some scholars believe that the assassination was the first major incident of political violence in the United States resulting from the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.

early life
Sarhan was born into an Arab Christian Palestinian family in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine. As a child growing up in the West Bank, Sarhan was traumatized by the violence he witnessed in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the death of his older brother, who was run over by a Jordanian military vehicle that was swerving to escape Israeli gunfire.

When Sarhan was 12, his family immigrated to the United States, moving briefly to New York and then to California. In Altadena, he attended Elliott Junior High School, followed by John Muir High School and Pasadena City College, both in Pasadena. Sarhan's father, Bishara, has been described as a stern man who brutally beats his sons. Shortly after the family moved to California, Bishara returned alone to the Middle East. Sarhan moved to Corona to train to become a jockey while working in a stable, but he lost his job and gave up the chase after suffering a head injury in a racing accident.

Sarhan never became a US citizen, retaining his Jordanian citizenship instead.

 

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