Thousands mourn Palestinian prisoner dead in Israeli jail
HEBRON: Some 4,000 mourners turned out yesterday for the West Bank funeral of a man whose controversial death in an Israeli jail earlier this week has incensed the Palestinians.
Mourners crowded around the body of Raed Al Jaabari, which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, shouting in grief during the funeral procession in his hometown of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, a correspondent said.
The Palestinians said on Thursday that Jaabari, 35, had died from a severe blow to the head, and blamed 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, who attended the funeral, said in his eulogy to Jaabari.
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 Israel Prisons Service has said 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.Figures show that as of July 31 there are 5,383 Palestinians being held by Israel for security offences, among them 446 without charges.aFP
