Palestinians on Sunday, Feb 24, called for an international investigation of Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees after a 30-year-old prisoner died in custody and a hunger strike by four other inmates sparked a week of West Bank protests, The Associated Press reported.
The death of Arafat Jaradat set off more clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian stone-throwers in several areas of the West Bank on Sunday. In one incident, two Palestinians were wounded by army fire, including a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the chest, a Palestinian health official said.
Jaradat's death raised new questions about Israel's Shin Bet security service, which has been accused by rights groups of mistreating Palestinians during interrogation.
Palestinian officials and the detainee's family alleged Jaradat was mistreated by the Shin Bet, saying he was healthy at the time of his arrest last week.
Israeli officials said Jaradat died of an apparent heart attack and denied he was beaten or subjected to any treatment that could have led to his death.
Israel's main forensics institute performed an autopsy Sunday, with a Palestinian physician in attendance.
Issa Karake, an official in the Palestinian Authority, said the Palestinian doctor told him afterward there was no sign of a heart attack and that Jaradat was tortured. Karake said he was told that the detainee had suffered two broken ribs and bruises.
The Israeli health ministry, however, said no external signs of violence were found on the body, aside from those likely caused during efforts to resuscitate him. The statement said the broken ribs likely resulted from intense resuscitation. The initial results of the autopsy could not definitively conclude the cause of death.
Several thousand Palestinian prisoners held by Israel observed a one-day fast to protest Jaradat's death. Jaradat, a father of a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, worked as a gas station attendant and his wife, Dalal, is pregnant, relatives said.
The Shin Bet said Jaradat was arrested last Monday, after residents of his village said he was involved in a rock-throwing attack that injured an Israeli. Jaradat admitted to the charge, as well as to another West Bank rock-throwing incident last year, the Shin Bet said.
The agency said that during interrogation, he was examined several times by a doctor who detected no health problems. On Saturday, he was in his cell and felt unwell after lunch, the agency said.
"Rescue services and a doctor were alerted and treated him, they didn't succeed in saving his life," the statement said.
Jaradat's attorney, Kamil Sabbagh, said his client told an Israeli military judge during a hearing on Thursday that he was being forced to sit for long periods during interrogation. He also complained of back pain and seemed terrified to return to the Shin Bet lockup, but did not have any apparent signs of physical abuse, Sabbagh said.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem also demanded an investigation, including how Jaradat was questioned.
The agency routinely holds detainees in isolation for extended periods during interrogation, keeping them in cells that are lit around the clock and denying them access to lawyers, said Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for the group.
She said that physical mistreatment of detainees had dropped sharply in recent years, but has not disappeared, according to affidavits by released prisoners. She also said detainees have filed some 700 complaints about mistreatment by Shin Bet agents during the past decade, but that none has led to a criminal investigation.
