Family of Palestine activist murdered by PA seek international probe

The wife of Palestinian political activist Nizar Banat, Jihan, speaks during a press conference at the family home in Dura south of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank, on June 28, 2021 [MOSAB SHAWER/AFP via Getty Images]

The family of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who was murdered by the PA last week, has called for a local-international investigative mission to look into what led to his death, Arab48 reported yesterday.

In response to the Palestinian Authority’s announcement that its investigation committee had started probing the events that led to Banat’s death, the family held a press conference in Hebron, Banat’s birthplace, and announced their rejection of this committee “because all of its parties are affiliates to PA.”

Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Banat’s father blamed PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the chief of his protective apparatus, Ziad Hab Al-Reeh, for the “murder” of his son.

“We will take the case of our son to the international community,” he said, stating that his son’s case “is no longer a family or national issue but an international issue.”

“We want a local-international investigation mission. Anything else is rejected,” he added.

Banat was a candidate for the Palestinian Legislative Council election which should have been held early this year. The election was cancelled by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. He was also an outspoken critic of the PA.

OPINION: Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat?

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.