Israeli police have questioned about twenty prison guards as part of an investigation into the death of a Palestinian prisoner following alleged acts of violence, Israeli and Palestinian sources said Thursday.
According to the Palestinian News Agency WafaThaer Abu Assab, 38, a native of the northern town of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, died in November after being beaten by guards at the prison in southern Israel where he was being held.
“This week 19 prison guards were questioned (…) and at the end of the questioning they were released under strict conditions,” a police spokeswoman said.
The source added that the investigation relates to “an alleged violent incident that occurred about a month ago at a prison in the south of the country,” but declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.
A Prison Service spokeswoman declined to comment when asked AFP.
According to Israeli media, the body of Tahir Abu Assab, who was a member of Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and was serving a 25-year prison sentence, was found in his cell.
According to the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, the results of the autopsy were unable to determine whether alleged violence by prisoners was the cause of death.
But the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) said in a statement that the case “raises serious suspicions that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) is being transformed from a professional prison body into a vindictive and punitive force.”
“Six prisoners have already died in prison (…). All cases of violence and death must be immediately investigated,” the department added.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a member of the far right, called for the presumption of innocence of the prison guards to be maintained until the end of the investigation.
“We cannot forget that our prison guards are dealing with human scum, murderers who pose a security threat,” the minister told an Israeli daily.
On October 7, as the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement began, Israeli prison authorities announced stricter conditions for Palestinian prisoners: a ban on leaving their cells, a ban on buying food in the canteen and a ban on electrical outlets in the premises. cells and more frequent surprise searches in the corresponding cells.
There were about 7,800 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons as of early December, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an association that defends their rights.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.