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Israel tortured Palestinian detainee to death, rights group says 

July 22, 2021 at 11:43 am

Abdo Al-Khatib [YZaatreh/Twitter]

Palestinian institutions today accused the Israeli authorities of torturing a Palestinian detainee to death, Anadolu Agency reports.

Forty-three-year-old Abdo Al-Khatib was killed yesterday after being tortured during interrogation at the Al-Maskobiya interrogation centre in occupied Jerusalem.

Amani Farahneh, media official at the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, said that testimonies collected from Al-Khatib’s family and fellow inmates indicate that he was subjected to electric shocks and beatings, which caused him to have a heart attack, resulting in his death.

An autopsy has been requested in order to determine the causes of Al-Khatib’s death.

Al-Khatib, a resident of Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, was arrested for a traffic violation. He is a married father of four and his wife is expecting their fifth child.

Last month, a video showing Israeli prison guards brutally assaulting Palestinian inmates highlighted the brutality of the occupation’s abuse of Palestinian prisoners.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, about 95 per cent of Palestinian prisoners in Israel experience ill-treatment or torture during their detention and interrogation.

Since Israel began its military occupation in 1967, it has imprisoned almost 800,000 Palestinians. Around 4,500 are being held at present, more than 350 of whom are held under administrative detention with no charge nor trial.

READ: The occupation’s crimes against prisoners in Israeli prisons