RAMALLAH: The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said the Israeli occupation court decided to open an investigation to look into the circumstances behind the death of Palestinian detainee Abdul-Rahman Al-Bahash, who was pronounced dead in mysterious circumstances in the Israeli prison of Megiddo last night.
The Commission and PPS, in a joint statement, said that the court’s decision came after it approved a request by the Comission’s lawyer to open an immediate investigation into the circumstances behind the death of 23-year-old detainee Abdul-Rahman al-Bahash, from Nablus.
The court also approved the lawyer’s demand to allow a doctor appointed by the family to participate in the post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death.
Another hearing was scheduled on January 16 to complete the deliberations on the case.
The statement explained that submitting a request for an investigation came within the framework of legal efforts to open immediate
investigations into the cases of several detainees who died in the Israeli occupation prisons after the 7th of October; the last and seventh of which was the death case of detainee Abdul Rahman Al-Bahash on Monday night in the Israeli prison of Megiddo.
They noted that seeking to open an investigation into the circumstances behind the detainees’ deaths does not necessarily mean that ‘we are waiting for any justice from the occupation courts; but a means to finding an entry point for an end to the torture and abuse that have been escalating in an unprecedented manner against Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.
They said that the Israeli media has announced the death of other detainees from Gaza held in Camp Sde Teiman, a military facility in Israel, and to this day the occupation refuses to reveal any information about them.
In addition to this announcement, the occupation revealed yesterday that it executed a detainee from Gaza without revealing his identity.
The occupation also refuses to reveal the
fate of all Gaza detainees who are being subjected to the crime of enforced disappearance.
As institutions responsible for monitoring the affairs of detainees and in light of testimonies that are increasing daily around the circumstances behind the detainees’ deaths in Israeli jails, the statement accused the Israeli occupation of systematically assassinating them through acts of torture and abuse and retaliatory actions that continue to this day, including the crime of medical negligence and depriving them of treatment.
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA