Sirhan Sirhan

Sirhan Sirhan

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (Arabic: سرحان بشارة سرحان‎, Sirḥān Bishārah Sirḥān; born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is currently serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.

Sirhan is an Arab Christian who was born in Jerusalem and who strongly opposed Israel. In 1989, he told David Frost, "My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 bombers 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 Arab–Israeli conflict in the Middle East. In 2011, his defense attorneys filed motions for a new trial, arguing Sirhan "should be freed from prison or granted a new trial based on 'formidable evidence', asserting his innocence and 'horrendous violations' of his rights".