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AOHR: Al-Naif was beaten to death with a blunt instrument

February 27, 2016 at 1:16 pm

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) has condemned the assassination of Palestinian national Omar Hassan Zayed (Al-Naif), 52, at the Palestinian embassy in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The organisation says it strongly believes that the victim was killed by members of the Israeli Mossad.

A press release by the AOHR cited Ahmed Al-Naif, brother of the victim as saying that staff at the Palestinian embassy, including the ambassador Ahmed Al-Madbouh, had tried to pressure Omar to leave. Omar had telephoned his brother at 11:30 on the eve of his death (25/02/2016) and told him that the ambassador and staff had intensified their campaign of intimidation with claims that someone might poison his food or that a flight was on standby to fly him back to Tel Aviv in order to force him to leave the embassy. His wife was allowed to visit him only twice a day and no one was allowed to stay with him at the embassy.

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According to the human rights organisation, several unidentified men had entered the embassy late during the night of 25/02/2016 without any resistance. No doors or windows were broken and no guards were on duty. Omar’s injuries indicate he was beaten with blunt instruments all over his body, especially on the head.

AOHR UK held the Bulgarian authorities and the Palestinian Authority, represented by its minister of foreign affairs and its ambassador Ahmed Al-Madbouh, fully responsible for failing to provide Omar with proper legal and physical protection which resulted in his death.