{"id":26256,"date":"2013-03-04T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=26256"},"modified":"2013-03-13T15:51:07","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T15:51:07","slug":"investigate-the-death-of-arafat-jaradat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/03\/investigate-the-death-of-arafat-jaradat\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigate the Death of Arafat Jaradat"},"content":{"rendered":"

What follows is a news report prompted by my press release on the shocking treatment of Arafat Jaradat who died while being held in an Israel<\/a> prison.<\/em><\/p>\n

27 February 2013 \u2013 A United Nations<\/a> human rights expert today called for an international investigation into the death of Palestinian prisoner<\/a> Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israeli custody just a few days after his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe death of a prisoner during interrogation is always a cause for concern, but in this case, when Israel has shown a pattern and practice of prisoner abuse, the need for outside, credible investigation is more urgent than ever,\u201d stressed the UN Special Rapporteur<\/a> for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories<\/a>, Richard Falk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best approach might be the creation of an international forensic team under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council<\/a>,\u201d he added in a\u00a0news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process<\/a>, Robert Serry, and the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman<\/a>, have also called for an independent investigation into Mr. Jaradat\u2019s death, which occurred on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Falk pointed to the assessment made by the Palestinian Authority\u2019s chief pathologist, Dr. Saber Aloul, who observed the autopsy carried out inside Israel, and found there were clear signs of torture on the body of the previously healthy, 30-year-old detainee.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials initially claimed Mr. Jaradat died of a heart attack, but the preliminary autopsy findings did not include a cause of death, noted the news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of Dr. Aloul\u2019s findings that there was no evidence of heart disease or damage, and that there were signs of torture on Jaradat\u2019s body, an independent international investigation should be launched,\u201d stated Mr. Falk.<\/p>\n

According to the Israeli human rights organization B\u2019tselem, more than 700 Palestinian detainees have filed complaints against agents of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet for mistreatment during interrogation throughout the last decade. However, noted the news release, not one has led to a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jaradat hailed from the small village of Sa\u2019ir<\/a> near Hebron and was a gas station attendant. He leaves behind a four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son; his wife Dalal is pregnant with their third child.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an occupying power, Israel has special responsibilities under international humanitarian law to deal humanely with Palestinians held in detention, and the international community has similar responsibilities to ensure that these are carried out,\u201d Mr. Falk underscored.<\/p>\n

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.<\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs. He is currently serving his fourth year of a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights.<\/em> Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. <\/i>His most recent book is <\/i>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 richardfalk.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS<\/i> <\/b><\/span>campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/b> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/b> BARCODE<\/b> STARTS WITH<\/b> 729<\/b>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What follows is a news report prompted by my press release on the shocking treatment of Arafat Jaradat who died while being held in an Israel prison. 27 February 2013 \u2013 A United Nations human rights expert today called for an international investigation into the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israeli custody just a few days after his arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,54,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","category-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}