2-Mar-13: Deaths in custody: red faces among PA jailers and their bosses

Entrance to Jericho prison from a 2006 Ynet report

The terrorism-friendly Palestinian Authority has been working overtime to create riotous conditions within its domain as well as among Arabs living in Israel over the death in custody of a Palestinian Arab prisoner called Arafat Jaradat. [See some background here: "25-Feb-13: Whipping up the flames to create a crisis atmosphere for when Obama arrives"]

The Israeli authorities conducted an autopsy a week ago on Jaradta's remains and published the first results Thursday. Times of Israel said this about the findings:

The preliminary results of Arafat Jaradat’s autopsy reveal no signs of violence or poisoning, Israeli pathologists revealed Thursday, contradicting previous statements by a Palestinian doctor who attended the procedure. Jaradat died on Saturday of what Israeli officials said was a heart attack while imprisoned at Megiddo Prison, but the Palestinian Authority was quick to lay the blame at Israel’s feet, following the report of a Palestinian pathologist who attended the Sunday autopsy and determined Jaradat had been tortured to death and had not died of cardiac arrest. A team of Israeli doctors headed by Professor Yehuda Hiss of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, Professor Arnon Afek, the Health Ministry’s Director of Health Administration, and Professor Iris Barshack, chief pathologist at the Sheba Medical Center, reported based on an examination of microscopic remains from the late Jaradat’s body that “no evidence was found of poisoning and no evidence was found of physical violence. According to a statement by the Health Ministry, Jaradat’s internal bleeding and fractured bones were characteristic of the 50 minutes of resuscitation attempts made by prison staff and emergency response staff to save his life. The forensic institute will continue to conduct examinations in order to determine Jaradat’s cause of death.”

Someone made the decision to invite representatives of the PA along to Abu Kabir to observe the autopsy. The outcome was predictable and (unless we are going to be completely disingenuous about it) intended. You can see them in such reports from this past week as "PA: Autopsy shows detainee died from torture in Israel" [Ynet on Sunday]; "Israel murdered Jaradat" [ Al-Ahram, Egypt, on Thursday]; Anger Reaches Tipping Point In West Bank" [Al-Monitor, on Thursday]. We expressed our own views on the PA's cynical manipulation here in several posts on Monday including this: "25-Feb-13: Whipping up the flames a little more, and riding the tiger".

Now comes a report today from a pro-PA news source that says a highly parallel event has occurred, and we have started wondering - along with many other critics of the Mahmoud Abbas regime - whether the PA plans to schedule public riots in the wake of this man's death.

Prisoner dies in Palestinian Authority custody 

Maan New Agency | Published 02/03/2013 17:49
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A prisoner being held in a Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho died on Friday, a senior Palestinian official said. Ayman Mohammad Sharif Samara, 40, died while being detained on charges of assault, Palestinian Authority attorney general Muhammad Abdul-Ghani al-Uweiwi told Ma'an. Initial reports indicate that Samara, who is from Jenin, suffered from diabetes, hypertension and other medical conditions. He was arrested on Friday and transferred to a nearby hospital, where he passed away, al-Uweiwi said. The PA attorney general denied that the prisoner was tortured or beaten during interrogations and said that an autopsy would be performed and the results made public once completed. An investigation into his death has already begun, al-Uweiwi added.

An Israeli report [Times of Israel] says the prisoner was being held in Jericho jail on charges of assault. It's not the first time a Palestinian Arab prisoner has died there while in the custody of PA jailers (see for instance "A prisoner dies under torture in Jericho prison on the eve of Eid" and "Armed Palestinians kill 6 inmates at Jericho prison in West Bank").