Family of Abbas critic, who died in Palestinian Authority custody, calls for international justice

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The family of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who died in Palestinian detention in June, stepped up their quest for international justice on Thursday, turning to British police and the United Nations.

Banat, a leading critic of the Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas, 86, died after security forces stormed his home in the searing city of Hebron and left him dead. dragged.

An autopsy revealed that he was beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, less than an hour between his arrest and death.

Banat’s family said they had no confidence in the Palestinian Authority’s ability to deliver justice and called for an international investigation.

A statement from the family’s lawyers, UK firm Stoke White, said it had asked the UK Metropolitan Police to open an investigation under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

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For a small number of serious offenses, UK courts can hear cases even if the alleged crimes were committed abroad.

Stoke White also said he had asked several branches of the UN human rights system to open an investigation, including the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and four special rapporteurs.

Nizar Banat, an outspoken Palestinian Authority, speaks to reporters at the family home in Hebron, West Bank, May 4, 2021. (AP / Nasser Nasser)

Ghasan Khalil Banat said that the “murder” of his brother was a “tragedy for our family, but also a tragedy for the Palestinian people”.

“The so-called investigation that was carried out into his murder is a disgrace and the PA should be ashamed of it,” he said in the statement.

Stoke White’s head of international law, Hakan Camuz, said: “Responsibility for the murder of Nizar Banat lies very clearly with the senior leaders of the Palestinian Authority, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh.

Shtayyeh and the Palestinian Authority have pledged to be held to account for Banat’s death. However, Camuz accused the PA of a long-standing attempt to silence dissent.

“They cannot be allowed to get away with this and that is why we are submitting these complaints and petitions to the UK police and the UN,” he said in the statement.

The UN and the European Union this week raised the alarm on a spate of arrests of activists by Palestinian security forces since Banat’s death, warning that the Palestinian Authority appeared to suppress fundamental freedoms through West Bank, a territory controlled by Israel since 1967.

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