Hebron – Some 4,000 mourners turned out Friday for the West Bank funeral of a Palestinian man who died in an Israeli jail earlier in the week.
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The Palestinians on Thursday said Raed al-Jaabari, 35, had died from a severe blow to the head, blaming Israel for his death, but Israeli authorities said he hanged himself.
“It’s a crime, he was killed. The coroners confirmed it, he died from a violent blow to the head,” former Palestinian prisoners minister Issa Qaraqe said at Jaabari’s funeral in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Jaabari’s body was taken for post-mortems by both Israel and the Palestinians after his death on Tuesday, with Israel not yet publishing its findings.
The Palestinian examination showed he had died from “a strong blow to the head,” Qaraqe, who is head of the Palestinian committee for prisoners, said on Thursday.
The Israel Prisons Service had said Tuesday that Jaabari hanged himself in a bathroom at Eshel prison in southern Israel and died en route to hospital.
Israel has appointed a judge to investigate the death.
IPS figures show that as of July 31 there are 5,383 Palestinians being held by Israel for security offences, among them 446 who are being held without charge under so-called administrative detention orders.