Autopsy shows Palestinian prisoner died after being tortured

Ma’an – 12/09/2014

HEBRON – Palestinian detainee Raed al-Jabari, 35, died after being tortured while in Israeli prison custody, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

Issa Qaraqe, former minister of prisoner affairs, said in a news conference that the results of an autopsy showed that internal bleeding and a concussion were the cause of death.

Israeli Prisons spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP Tuesday that he had hanged himself in a bathroom at Eshel prison.

She said a medical team had tried to revive him but that he was pronounced dead on arrival at Soroka hospital in the city.

Qaraqe said the autopsy did not find any signs of bruising around al-Jabari’s neck and that the main cause of death was bleeding and concussion likely to have been caused by blows to the head.

The victim also had bruising on his face and lips.

Dr. Saber al-Alul took part in the autopsy on Thursday at the Israeli forensic science institute but was prevented from revealing the autopsy results.

Another committee then conducted an autopsy on the body at the Palestinian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Dis.