Gaza - Alray Media

by Julie Webb-Pullman

At a protest today outside the UNDP in Gaza City, Director of the Centre for Detainees’ Studies Ra’faat Hamdouna said his organisation has called on Ban Ki-moon to form an investigation committee into the death of Arafat Jaradat, who died last week after being tortured in Israeli detention.

Hamdouna also advised that his organisation has formed its own committee to investigate the circumstances of Jaradat’s death, as well as to determine the conditions that detainees are living in, especially the medical conditions.

“Arafat died under torture, and there were a lot of violations committed by the Shin Bet during his interrogation,” he said.

“The injuries on Jaradat’s body included a black eye, bruising and bleeding around and from his nose, and bruising on his chest. The Palestinian pathologist declared that Jaradat underwent ongoing severe torture. He suffered no health problems prior to his torture, and was in good health. Torture was the cause of death,” he asserted.

“Israeli authorities violated international law and they are not committed to the observation of human rights. Israel is violating democratic norms in the way it interrogates prisoners, and does not care about the reaction of the international community.

There is an urgent need to investigate this death, and to pinpoint who is guilty of it,” he stressed.

Hamdouna also called on international organisations to be neutral, emphasising that the detainees’ issue is a humanitarian issue, and must be dealt with objectively.