Palestinian beaten before death in Israeli custody, family says
Abdo Yusuf al-Khatib al-Tamimi’s family demand answers after he died at Israel’s notorious Moskabiya detention centre.
Occupied East Jerusalem – The family of a Palestinian man who died in Israeli custody has alleged he was beaten by Israeli forces in the detention centre before his death, citing reports by other detainees and photos released after his death.
Abdo Yusuf al-Khatib al-Tamimi, 43, died at the notorious Moskabiya detention centre, also known as the Russian Compound, in West Jerusalem on July 23.
Al-Tamimi, a married father of four from the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, had been arrested several days earlier on a minor traffic violation.
His pregnant wife Rana said detainees had told the family al-Tamimi had been beaten by Israeli forces before his death.
“Our family received calls from other prisoners in adjacent cells in the Moskabiya stating that they had heard al-Tamimi screaming and the sound of blows raining down on him before he subsequently went quiet,” she told Al Jazeera.
“He went into prison a healthy man with no health issues.”
Amal Taha, Rana’s mother, said that according to other prisoners there had been a confrontation with prison guards prior to the alleged assault on her son-in-law.
“Abdo together with three other prisoners had been shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, because it was Eid al-Adha, and were subsequently told by prison guards that this was not allowed,” Taha told Al Jazeera.
“My son-in-law argued with the guards and the argument escalated to the point that he was separated from the other three and taken into a cell on his own before the others heard him screaming before there was silence.”
Photos released after his death show a deep gash on his head which was subsequently stitched up, a bloody wound on his knee and extensive bruising on other parts of his body.
