Palestinian Detainee Dies While Under Israeli Custody

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Palestinians demand inquiry into death in an Israeli jail

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials on Saturday demanded an international investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli jail hours earlier.

A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that the detainee, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, had apparently died of cardiac arrest. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said.

Tension over the issue of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has risen over the past few weeks, with mass protests held in support of four inmates on hunger strike and dozens of demonstrators injured in ensuing clashes with Israeli forces.

"Our information was that Jaradat was being interrogated and then he died. Therefore we call for an international investigation into his death, that may have resulted from torture," Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqea said.

...Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, a leading association that cares for Palestinians in Israeli jails, said that according to the group's records, Jaradat did not suffer from any prior illness.

"Israel was responsible for his life," Fares said.

Jaradat was arrested this week under suspicion he was involved in stone-throwing that had wounded an Israeli in the occupied West Bank, the Shin Bet said.

Israel holds around 4,700 Palestinians in its prisons on charges ranging from throwing stones to killing Israelis. Palestinians widely regard them as heroes of their national struggle against Israel and want them all freed.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20130223/US-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-PRISONER/

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Anyone know how many Israelis are in prison for stone-throwing ?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Anyone know how many Israelis are in prison for stone-throwing ?

No I don't but I do know 2002 was a banner year for Israeli deaths by terrorism. I'm sure they were justifiable in your book though.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

No I don't but I do know 2002 was a banner year for Israeli deaths by terrorism. I'm sure they were justifiable in your book though.

OMG this guy was responsible for a deadly terror attack against Israelis in 2002 ????? I thought the article said he was accused of stone-throwing.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

OMG this guy was responsible for a deadly terror attack against Israelis in 2002 ????? I thought the article said he was accused of stone-throwing.

Drone...

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Drone...

I bet you think you're making sense.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I bet you think you're making sense.

Five or six Palestinians were executed publicly and had their dead bodies dragged through the streets of Gaza, televised, by fellow Palestinians, and you blew it off as 'they were traitors' so let's not get all teary now over the OP until the facts are in shall we?

Edited February 24, 2013 by ready4ONE

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Five or six Palestinians were executed publicly and had their dead bodies dragged through the streets of Gaza, televised, by fellow Palestinians, and you blew it off as 'they were traitors' so let's not get all teary now over the OP until the facts are in shall we?

Let's see the quote, so we can all see what was actually said and the context.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Of course, Palestinians and human rights activists are suspicious that Jaradat may have been tortured to death, being all too familiar with the type of activity that can go on during Israel's "interrogations" of suspects that it accuses.

'Now you are paralyzed, as we promised'

By Gideon Levy

Thursday, June 21, 2007

"We have to make you do a little sports," the Shin Bet interrogator said, launching four successive days of questioning accompanied by brutal physical torture. The result: Luwaii Ashqar can no longer stand on his feet. He sits in his wheelchair, dressed in a fashionable quasi-military suit, super-elegant, new Caterpillar-brand shoes on his paralyzed feet.

"I love this color," he says about his uniform. "It's the color of the soldiers who came to arrest me for the interrogation that did all this to me."

His smile is captivating, his Hebrew rich and incisive. He is a young man whose world fell apart. He entered prison sound of body and mind and emerged a broken man. For four days and four nights nonstop, he says, he was interrogated and subjected to torture of the most brutal kind. The result is the person we see before us in the wheelchair, in the elegant home high in the village of Saida, north of Tul Karm, which was placed at his disposal by a friend after he was released from Israeli prison a month ago.

Was there a judgment by the High Court of Justice? There was. It banned precisely the types of torture he underwent: the "banana posture," the "shabah" (body stretching with hands tied to a chair), "invisible" blows and the "frog posture" (being forced to stand for hours on the toes in a crouching position) - all the way to a vicious kick to his chest that bent his body backward while he was tied to a chair with his arms and legs, and which was the probable cause of the partial paralysis of his legs.

Throwing up with the vomit entering his nostrils, losing consciousness and being given only saltwater to drink, relieving himself in his pants, not sleeping or resting - all of that for four consecutive days and nights.

What does the interrogator Maimon tell his children when he goes home? What do Eldad and Sagiv tell their wives about their daily labors before they turn in? That they tortured another helpless prisoner until they turned him into a cripple? That they beat this charming young man brutally and that at the end of the interrogation he was tried for only marginal offenses? And where is the Supreme Court, which in 1999 prohibited precisely the chain of torture that Luwaii Sati Ashqar, 30, who was married three years ago, underwent in the Kishon detention facility?

Ashqar is not alone. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel has just issued a new report containing the testimonies of nine torture victims (English version: www.stoptorture.org.il//eng). As the authors of the shocking report say, the testimonies "paint a dismal picture in which can be discerned various categories of secret-keeping collaborators, who, in keeping silent, protect the [shin Bet] system of torture." ...

On the wall is a picture, a fine drawing of a kneeling prisoner, his head between his knees. The caption: "I am in the darkness of the prison, living on your memory. I am far from you, lying in my bed, my spirit cruising your land all night. God will release all the prisoners, the strong will triumph."

Ashqar is sitting in his wheelchair, his left leg completely enclosed in a cast, his right leg shaking nonstop. When he tries to get up and lean on his crutches, he threatens to topple over. "I was married in 2004, and I started to work in aluminum in the village to provide for my new household. On April 22, 2005, at 2:30 A.M., the soldiers came and started to throw grenades and to shout for everyone in the house to go outside. They blindfolded me with whatever they use and handcuffed me. I was taken in a jeep to prison and I was examined by an army doctor. He looked over my body - no operations, doesn't take medication, no illnesses. Again I was taken in a military jeep, this time to Kishon. 'Yehuda, incoming,' the warder said and transferred me to the interrogation office. They opened my eyes: Good morning. An excellent morning. One of the interrogators, Maimon, told me: I am responsible for your file. What file? The one you were arrested for. This is the major, and this t! all guy is the colonel, this is Sagiv and this is Eldad. Eight interrogators.

"They said: We have no time, it will soon be our Passover and you have to finish everything in a short time. Finish what? You have to tell us what you have. I don't have anything to tell you. I begged. They said: We know all that nonsense. We are talking about security. Plans for terrorist attacks at Passover. I said: I don't understand what you are talking about. They said: The suicide bomber was at your place. What suicide bomber?

"After two hours of talking they said to me: If you don't give everything you have, we will have to take it by a different way. What is the different way? Did you hear of a military interrogation? You might leave here with your body battered or crippled. I was taken to a military interrogation. Here you pray to God that you will die, they said, but we won't give you that. We will let you die only after you spill out what we are looking for. He gave me a prison uniform and I told him that if I was going to die, I preferred my own clothes.

"They sat me down on a square chair without a back, which was attached to the floor and had sharp metal ends [sticking up]. My legs were tied to the legs of the chair with metal cuffs and my hands were tied behind my back with metal cuffs. One interrogator sat behind me and the other in front of me. The interrogator opposite me said: We have to give you a little sports, so you will be able to hold out in the military interrogation. The sports was that they pushed me backward by the chest, a backward somersault, and I would hold myself so my bones would not break. After a minute or two I would automatically fall on the floor, but the interrogator behind me would put his foot on my chest and press, and the interrogator in front would grab my hands and pull and pull behind the chair. They kept on like that until I don't know what happened to me, heat in every part of my body, puking everything I had in my stomach and it would go into my nostrils. I would wake up when they poure! d water on my face. When I woke up, we went back to the same situation. It went on like this 15-20 times an hour.

"After that they made me crouch on my toes, not letting me lean on the back of my foot. I was in that position for 40-50 minutes, maybe an hour - that was my estimate - until I felt my soles swelling and they turned blue and there was tremendous pain. After that, stand up, and they tied my hands and pressed as hard as they could on the metal handcuffs until the metal dug into my hand. Here are the signs, you can still see them. Because of the pressure, the key of the handcuffs didn't always work and they would bring huge metal scissors, like they use in construction, and tear off the handcuffs and then bring new ones, to go on. The color of my hands changed to blue, and when they opened [the handcuffs] my hands shook. The interrogator stood on the table and pulled me with a chain of handcuffs. When I fell, they pulled me by the hair.

"I would cry, beg, shout, and they came back to me with words, that it was impossible to stop, only after you start talking about what we want. I said to them: Tell me what you want. Tell me I am responsible for the attack on the Pentagon, I am ready to confess to everything, just tell me what. I want to end this death."

"There were always four interrogators and two rotated every four hours, day and night. The new ones would tell me they were stronger than the ones before, that the ones before were a joke, we are the strong ones. And that was true. The new ones tied me and started to beat me all over my body. One interrogator pressed hard on my testicles and on my feet with his shoes. When they slapped me and I tried to pull back, the major would say: What are you doing? If you move back, I will break your nose, and if you move forward I will rip off your ear. Be strong and take it sportingly, because you are a soldier and a fighter. They broke this tooth."

Ashqar suddenly stops talking. He turns pale and his face is covered with beads of perspiration. His father, Sati, quickly wipes his face with a damp cloth. "Every time I try to remember I get dizzy, even when I am alone." Quiet descends in the room. It will take Ashqar another few minutes to pull himself together.

"I was taken into detention on Friday morning, and that was the last light of day I saw before the interrogation. I came out for the first time on Monday night or before dawn on Tuesday morning. On those long days I sat in a chair and did not even go to the toilet. So you won't kill yourself, they said. I urinated in my clothes, and a terrible stench started. For four days I didn't eat anything. They told me: If we give you something to eat, something will happen to your stomach and your intestines. Maybe they will explode under the pressure of the food when we push you backward. You will drink only half a cup of saltwater. That is what they gave me every time after they bent me and I vomited. Why with salt? I asked. Give me without salt. No, so nothing will happen in your stomach and intestines. I would drink it and vomit.

"On Monday evening, they told me that five witnesses had testified that Luwaii had transported a wanted man. I told them that there was a famous wanted man named Luwaii Sadi, but my name is Luwaii Sati, and maybe they had mixed us up. He said to me: Are you saying the Shin Bet is that stupid? We know exactly what we're doing, and it is all correct. I said: Put me on trial for whatever you want. He said: Ya'allah, sports again. He pushes me backward in the chair. I will help you become a story in Palestinian history. He is talking to me and my head is down below. He pushes strongly with his leg and presses on my chest. I felt something like an explosion in my body. Like something broke. After that I don't know what happened. I woke up and they were pouring water on my face. Again they pushed me backward and again I fainted.

"He said to me: Stand on your feet. I felt that my legs were cold, like pins and needles in the legs. I said: I can't. He said: Now you are paralyzed. I said: I guess I am. He said: That is what we promised you and that is what you want."

"I discovered I had a wound in the back and it was bleeding - because of the sharp chair - and one of my bones was protruding. Because of the blood and because of the urine of four days there was such a stench that the interrogator could not come close to me. He said: Why do you stink like that? I told him: That is your perfume. A warder took me to the shower and threw me on the floor and said to me: Ya'allah, you have two minutes to shower. I looked at the faucet up above and I could not reach it. I pulled down my pants and the underpants stayed in place. I tried to pull them down - I could do it in front but behind it was stuck to my back. The two minutes went by and the warder started to pound on the door. Time's up. I told him: Give me another two minutes, I can't reach the faucet. He came in and asked: What do you have on your back? I said: I don't know.

"He called the interrogator and said: Come and see the prisoner. The interrogator came and asked: What do you have, Luwaii? I said: I don't know what I have on my back, I can't pull the underpants down and I can't reach the faucet. He said: Ya'allah, we will go up and finish the story and take you to the doctor.

"Two warders took me in a Prisons Service vehicle to Rambam [Medical Center in Haifa]. In emergency, my hands and feet were tied and a Russian doctor asked me: What hurts you? I told him: My whole body hurts from the interrogation. The Druze warder said: Shut up. The doctor turned me on the side and stuck a finger into my ####. I asked him: What are you doing? He said: I am checking whether you have hemorrhoids. Why didn't you ask me first? I am a professional, he said. I said: What about the wound on the back? He put ointment there and dressed it. After 10 minutes I was taken back to interrogation. Again I was tied to the square chair. The bandage fell off and the wound started to bleed again. After that, they stopped the military interrogation."

He was interrogated for another two months, but without physical torture. He was told that his wife had been arrested because of him - a complete fabrication - and he was given a lie detector test ("the falsehoods machine," in his Hebrew). For two weeks he was placed in a cell with stool pigeons. In the end, he was indicted on only two counts, in Prosecution File 2157/05: assisting a wanted person to hide and using a forged document. No ticking and no bomb. Ashqar was sentenced to 26 months in prison and was released a month ago. In the meantime, his younger brother, Osaimar, disappeared. Soldiers came to the house looking for him, but he was not there. His family has not seen him since: He told them that he was not willing to undergo what Luwaii did.

Luwaii is now looking for a way to get medical treatment in Israel or abroad, after his physician told him that he would not be able to get rehabilitation in the West Bank. His lawyer told him that the Shin Bet will almost certainly prevent him from going anywhere.

....

http://www.zcommunications.org/now-you-are-paralyzed-as-we-promised-by-gideon-levy

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Minister: Autopsy shows torture killed Jaradat

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An autopsy has revealed that Arafat Jaradat died of extreme torture in Israeli custody and did not have a cardiac arrest, the PA Minister of Detainee Affairs said Sunday.

At a news conference in Ramallah, Issa Qaraqe said an autopsy conducted in Israel in the presence of Palestinian officials revealed that 30-year-old Jaradat had six broken bones in his neck, spine, arms and legs.

"The information we have received so far is shocking and painful. The evidence corroborates our suspicion that Mr. Jaradat died as a result of torture, especially since the autopsy clearly proved that the victim's heart was healthy, which disproves the initial alleged account presented by occupation authorities that he died of a heart attack," Qaraqe said.

A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said Saturday that Jaradat had apparently died of cardiac arrest in Megiddo prison. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said.

Qaraqe described the claim as a fabrication and called for a committee to investigate those responsible for Jaradat's death.

The minister said Jaradat had sustained injuries and severe bruising in the upper right back area and severe bruises of sharp circular shape in the right chest area.

The autopsy revealed evidence of severe torture and on the muscle of the upper left shoulder, parallel to the spine in the lower neck area, and evidence of severe torture under the skin and inside the muscle of the right side of the chest. His second and third ribs in the right side of the chest were broken, Qaraqe said, and he also had injuries in the middle of the muscle in the right hand.

Jaradat's heart was in good condition and there were no signs of bruising or stroke, the minister added.

Israel's Health Ministry said the injuries found in the autopsy could have been caused by the medical emergency team's efforts to resuscitate Jaradat.

"These initial findings are not enough to determine the cause of death," the Israeli ministry said, adding that further test results were not yet in. An Israeli police spokesman said the investigation into Jaradat's death was still ongoing.

Qaraqe's deputy, Ziyad Au Ain, urged any doctors, including Israeli doctors, who doubted that Jaradat was tortured to death to view his body in Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron.

"Jaradat died due to torture and not a stroke or heart attack," he said, adding that those responsible must be sued either through Interpol or the International Criminal Court.

Palestinian Prisoners Society president Qaddura Fares added that the autopsy revealed seven injuries to the inside of Jaradat's lower lip, bruises on his face and blood on his nose.

After the autopsy, Jaradat's body was transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent at the Tarqumiya crossing west of Hebron, and taken to the Al-Ahli Hospital. He will be buried on Monday in his hometown Sair.

Jaradat's lawyer Kameel Sabbagh said he was tortured by Israeli interrogators.

Sabbagh, who works for the prisoners ministry, was present at Jaradat's last hearing on Thursday, which an Israeli judge postponed for 12 days.

"When I entered the courtroom I saw Jaradat sitting on a wooden chair in front of the judge. His back was hunched and he looked sick and fragile," Sabbagh said in a statement Sunday.

"When I sat next to him he told me that he had serious pains in his back and other parts of his body because he was being beaten up and hanged for many long hours while he was being investigated.

"When Jaradat heard that the judge postponed his hearing he seemed extremely afraid and asked me if he was going to spend the time left in the cell. I replied to him that he was still in the investigation period and this is possible and that as a lawyer I couldn't do anything about his whereabouts at this time."

Sabbagh said Jaradat's psychological state was very serious and that he informed the judge his client had been tortured. The judge ordered that Jaradat should be examined by the prison doctor but "this didn't happen," the lawyer added.

On Sunday, thousands of Palestinians protested the death across the West Bank and Gaza, and at least two protesters were injured by live fire in clashes with Israeli forces, including the 13-year-old son of a Preventive Security officer.

Dozens more were injured by rubber-coated bullets.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers used riot dispersal means against Palestinians hurling rocks at security forces.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=568699

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Terrible.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Palestinians in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron... not far from where Jaradat's funeral will take place tomorrow afternoon....

Arafat Jaradat, Sept. 2012

The father of Arafat Jaradat, being helped away from Abu Kabir Forensic Unit, after identifying his son's tortured body, Feb. 14, 2013

[OriZ 3,157]

Terrible.

I agree. Lying and using anything as an excuse to incite people to use violence is indeed terrible.

Security forces and Palestinian youth clashed on Sunday in Hebron and in the Beit Einun village close to Saeer, where Arafat Jaradat resided until he died in Megiddo Prison on Saturday.

Palestinian sources claimed that Jaradat's autopsy reveals that he underwent torture, which caused his death.

Jaradat's body was dissected in the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in the presence of a Palestinian pathologist, several family members and a legal team from the Palestinian Authority's Prisoner Affairs office.

According to the institute, the autopsy revealed no external physical injuries other than those suffered during resuscitation attempts and a small bruise on the right side of the chest.

The autopsy also did not find evidence of illness. "Two muscle bleedings were noted, one in the shoulder and one on the right side of the chest and on both elbows.

"Two broken ribs on the right side were seen, which could be the result of the resuscitation attempts. These preliminary findings can't determine the cause of death," the forensic institute said.

"At this stage, before the microscopic and toxicological tests have been finished, the cause of death can't be related to the autopsy's findings."

The body was taken to a Hebron hospital after the autopsy, to be buried in Jaradat's village on Monday.

Palestinian Prisoner Society Chairman Qadura Fares said that the autopsy shows that Jaradat died of torture inflicted during his interrogation, and not due to a cardiac arrest as was claimed by the Shin Bet.

Thirty-year-old Jaradat's family reiterated that he was in perfect health and suffered no illness before his detainment.

They blamed Israel for his death, saying he was tortured in his interrogation. Jaradat's lawyer Kamil Sabag who last saw him on Thusday in his remand hearing told Ynet he saw his client holding his chest and stomach.

He added that Jaradat seemed to be in poor mental condition and he therefore asked the court to allow a doctor's visit. He said the court obliged the request and ordered the prison's doctor to examine Jaradat's mental and physical condition.

The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Ministry revealed the preliminary findings of the Palestinian pathologist present at the autopsy, according to which the bruises on Jaradat's body were caused by torture. It said no evidence of a cardiac arrest was found, contrary to Israel's statement.

The Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs Issa Karaka accused Israel of torturing Jaradat, causing his death. "Israel's version regarding Jaradat's death is fake and false," he said.

Karaka demanded an independent probe be launched into Jaradat's death, stressing that those responsible should be brought to justice.

Earlier on Sunday Palestinian administrative detainees protested his death and refused to eat breakfast and lunch, but it is yet unclear whether the hunger strike will continue on Monday.

Meanwhile, clashes between Palestinians and security forces broke out in crossings north of Jenin and west of Ramallah, during which the Palestinian Preventative Security Force chief's 15-year-old son was injured by gunfire.

Sources from the government hospital in Ramallah stated that he was injured in his stomach and underwent surgery.

During the clashes a 20-year-old Palestinian was injured by gunfire in his shoulder and was taken to a hospital.

Sunday evening, an Israeli woman suffered light head injuries from stone throwing near the Kedumim settlement in the West Bank.

She arrived on her own to the settlement and was taken for medical treatment

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4348894,00.html

Why would anyone invite them all to the autopsy to make sure they know he wasn't tortured if they were not 100% sure that he was not tortured? Because he was not.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I agree. Lying and using anything as an excuse to incite people to use violence is indeed terrible.

Who are you accusing of lying ? Are you trying to claim that Israel doesn't torture prisoners ? Because it does, routinely, and it's already admitted it, and it's already even "legalized" it.

Since the [Landau] commission submitted its recommendations, in 1987, GSS interrogators have tortured thousands of detainees, intentionally inflicting severe pain and suffering. The torture was neither extraordinary nor limited to “ticking bombs.” Quite the opposite; torture was a bureaucratic routine: there was standard equipment for inflicting torture, and careful recording of the times the pain and suffering were inflicted. Even the state’s response in petitions against torture repeated, paragraph after paragraph, the routine justification for what were supposedly extraordinary acts. Supervision of the GSS did not succeed in preventing torture in Israel from becoming routine, systematic, and institutionalized.

Many of those interrogated were subsequently released without being charged with an offense or were administratively detained, indicating their innocence. Many interrogees, whom the GSS defined as “ticking bombs,” were tortured during interrogations on weekdays, while on weekends, when the interrogators did not work, the “bombs” stopped “ticking” until Sunday, when the process started over again.

http://www.btselem.org/torture/background

Average Israelis are either blind to the facts - or, if they don't fit the paradigm of "Israeli sh!te don't stink !" are willfully ignored.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4348894,00.html

Why would anyone invite them all to the autopsy to make sure they know he wasn't tortured if they were not 100% sure that he was not tortured? Because he was not.

"Them all" ? From my understanding, one Palestinian physician was in attendance at the autopsy. But I guess one person could be considered a huge Palestinian presence, as it's indeed very unusual for Israel to invite a Palestinian physician to an autopsy of a Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody. I will reserve my comment on Israel's possible motivation to break its customary procedure for that... for now.

However, the Israeli physician in attendance did not uphold Israel's official claim that Jaradat died of a heart attack - in fact, the Israeli physician gives no reason for death.

Look at the pic of the deceased's face here (it's from his funeral, so not a blood-covered gruesome pic.) There are visible signs of the beating he was subjected to - look at his forehead, eyes and cheekbones:

http://angryarabscommentsection.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/died-of-torture.html

Edited February 25, 2013 by wife_of_mahmoud

[ready4ONE 5,400]

The Israeli physician was pretty clear that there was no sign of torture or physical injuries and the Palestinian doctor towed the party line. Seems someone's anxious to dismiss the clear statement regarding the only external injuries found being those caused by attempts to resuscitate the guy and ignore the rest, especially the one about the autopsy not being finalized in regards to finding the cause of death, and conclude 'Palestinian sh*t don't stink.'