Palestinian Family ( Claims family member tortured to death in Jail )

Family of Palestinian man found dead in Israeli jail claims he was tortured

The family of a Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody claimed on Monday that his body bore the marks of injuries that indicated he had been tortured to death by his jailers.

Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of Arafat Jaradat Photo: AP

By Robert Tait, Sa'eer

6:38PM GMT 25 Feb 2013

Relatives of Arafat Jaradat, 30, also accused Israeli soldiers of beating him with rifle butts after arresting at his home in the West Bank town of Sa'eer, near Hebron, in the early hours of February 18.

They said he screamed out in pain and shouted, "Oh mother, Oh mother" as troops dragged him to a military jeep after arresting him for suspected militant activity that included charges of throwing stones.

Mr Jaradat, a father-of-two, died on Saturday while in detention at Megiddo prison in central Israel. Prison authorities initially said he had died of a heart attack.

^{Mr Jaradat's death further heightened rising Israeli concern over a recent wave of unrest in the West Bank (Reuters)}

The preliminary findings of an autopsy conducted by Israel's National Centre for Forensic Medicine subsequently failed to determine the cause of death. A summary released by the Israeli health ministry said "no signs of external trauma were found apart from those pertaining to resuscitation [attempts]".