Palestinian detainee killed under torture in Israeli prison: Autopsy

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
24 Jan 2025 12:43
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It has been confirmed that Palestinian detainee Mohammad al-Aref has died under torture; a cornerstone of "Israel's"systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees.

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Martyred Palestinian prisoner Mohammad Hussein al-Aref (Social media)

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) revealed new details surrounding the death of a Palestinian detainee at an Israeli detention camp, confirming that he died under severe torture.

On Thursday, the Commission and the PPS issued a statement saying that a preliminary medical report obtained by the family of 45-year-old Mohammad Hussein al-Aref confirmed he was deliberately liquidated during interrogation.

Al-Aref, from the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, underwent an autopsy on December 17, 2024.

They stated, "It was clear that there was a decision to kill him from the moment of his detention on November 28, 2024."

The autopsy revealed multiple signs of severe abuse, leading to a heart attack, a blocked lung artery, a brain bleed, and other internal injuries.

The Commission and the PPS emphasized that al-Aref’s death is part of "Israel's" ongoing systematic crimes against Palestinian detainees. They noted that the use of torture has intensified and reached new extremes since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza.

Another Palestinian detainee killed in Israeli prisons

Palestinian detainee Mohammad Yassin Khalil Jaber was martyred on Saturday, January 18, 2025, in Israeli occupation prisons, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) announced.

In a statement published on Sunday, the two organizations said details regarding the circumstances of the detainee's death remain unclear at this time.

The Commission and the PPS noted that Jaber, 22, from the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Beit Lahm, had been held under administrative detention since December 11, 2023, and was detained in the al-Naqab Desert Prison at the time of his death.

The statement explained that Jaber was a former injury survivor with a severe abdominal wound sustained a year and a half before his detention, which necessitated the removal of part of his intestines, adding that the occupation forces detained the martyr while he was in need of intensive medical care.

With Jaber's martyrdom, the number of detainees and prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the genocide has risen to 56, with their identities confirmed, the statement mentioned.

This marks the highest death toll in the history of the Palestinian Captive Movement, making this period the deadliest since 1967, it added.

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the PPS further reported that the total number of martyred Palestinian detainees since 1967 now stands at 293, with many more detainees from Gaza still subjected to enforced disappearance.

The statement highlighted that Jaber is the sixth administrative detainee to die in Israeli prisons since the outset of the genocide.

The two organizations described Jaber's death as part of a wider pattern of abuse, calling it a "new crime" in the ongoing Israeli campaign of brutality against Palestinians.

Both organizations condemned the inhumane treatment of detainees, which they termed a "humanitarian catastrophe" and another form of genocide. They reiterated that the conditions in Israeli prisons aim to systematically execute, assassinate, and erase Palestinian lives, with an alarming escalation of deaths expected as long as thousands of detainees remain in Israeli detention.

The organizations warned that the number of martyrs among prisoners and detainees will likely increase as thousands continue to endure systematic crimes, including torture, starvation, various forms of assault, medical neglect, sexual violence, and deliberate exposure to dangerous and contagious diseases.

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the PPS held "Israel" fully responsible for the deaths of the detainees and renewed their calls for international legal bodies to take immediate action to hold Israeli leaders accountable for the war crimes they continue to perpetrate.

They stressed the urgent need to end the extraordinary impunity granted to "Israel" by former colonial powers, which have shielded the occupation entity from accountability and justice.

Elsewhere, the two organizations urged for sanctions against "Israel" and an international push to isolate the entity, highlighting the need to restore the role of international human rights systems, which they say have failed to intervene in the ongoing genocide.