Palestinian prisoners plan hunger strike after inmate dies

Palestinians reject Israeli account that Raed Abdel Salam al-Jaabari hanged self, call for probe into his death

Palestinian prisoners held by Israel said Tuesday they would launch a hunger strike to protest the death of an inmate Israel says hanged himself.

Palestinians named the man as Raed Abdel Salam al-Jaabari, 35, who was arrested in July, and called for an independent probe, describing the circumstances of his death as “mysterious.”

Issa Qaraqaa, head of the Palestinian committee responsible for prisoners, told official Palestinian news agency Wafa that prisoners would strike for one day to protest the death.

Prisons spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP the prisoner had hanged himself in the bathrooms at Eshel prison in the southern city of Beersheba.

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

“A prisoner hanged himself in the toilets,” she told AFP, saying a team of paramedics, as well as prison officers, had tried to resuscitate him.

“They managed to revive him but, on the way to hospital, his heart apparently stopped working again and he was pronounced dead on arrival,” she said.

She said he was serving time for assault and making threats but had no specific details.

The Palestinians blamed Israel, ruling out suicide as the cause of death, with the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club saying he had no known illness and calling for an impartial investigation.

Jaabari “died today in Eshel prison under mysterious circumstances,” a statement said.

Prisoners’ Club director Qadoura Fares “cast doubt on the [Israel’s] claims that the prisoner committed suicide and asked international organizations to investigate his death,” it said.

Qaraqaa said Jaabari had been arrested by Israel at the end of July for offenses that were not immediately clear. He told the Ma’an news agency that Jaabari had been tortured and died while being transfered.

“Israel is responsible for his death,” he told AFP.

“The Israelis say he tried to hang himself but it is not true. It is a lie,” he said. “This is a war crime.”