Palestinians claim detainee in Jericho prison died from torture

Shadi Muhammad Shahin died Monday night in the Jericho prison run by the Palestinian Authority.  While the circumstances around his death remain unclear, his family claims that he died due to torture by the Palestinian police.

Jericho prison

According to the Palestinian Information Center (a Hamas-run website) Shahin, who was in his thirties, died Monday after being tortured for a long period of time.

 

The Palestinian police, run by the Fateh-affiliated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, claim that Shahin died of illness, and promised to conduct a full autopsy and investigation of his death.

 

Jericho prison is the main Palestinian Authority-run prison, although Israeli occupying military forces have, in the past, raided the prison to extract men they wish to encarcelate in Israeli prisons.  The most famous raid took place in 2006 when Israeli forces bombed and demolished parts of the prison, killing a number of prisoners.

 

The current administration of the prison has come under scrutiny within the Palestinian Territories, as the facility is run by the Fateh party exclusively, and members of the rival Hamas party (which won the Palestinian election in 2006, but was not allowed by Israel to take power in the West Bank) claim that the Fateh party is using their power to target members of the rival Hamas movement.

 

Family members of Shadi Fahin voiced their outrage that their relative died just days before the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fatr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.