RAMALLAH, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) on Wednesday told Xinhua that one Palestinian forensic will take part in the autopsy of Palestinian prisoner Nassar Majed Taqatqa who died in an Israeli prison.
Amani Sarahnah, PPC's information officer, said that head of Al-Quds University's forensic department will take part in the autopsy in order to "stand on the real cause of the death, which is likely to be a result of medical negligence and torture."
The PPC issued a press statement saying that Taqatqa was seen by inmates in deteriorating health condition during his interrogation.
"On July 9, he was taken to the transfer section in Majido prison and then moved to the cells where he was heavily beaten by prison guards who tied him up to the bed," the statement said.
"On July 11, the Israeli prison authority refused to transfer him to the public section because he was said to be punished. On July 14, he was taken to Ramla prison hospital on a stretcher," it added.
Taqatqa was then taken to Nitzan prison and put in solitary under monitoring because of his medical condition, the statement said, until he passed away on Tuesday morning.
It added that "initial information points out that his arms and legs may have been fractured under torture."
The PPC said that with Taqatqa's death, the number of Palestinians died in Israeli custody since 1967 has risen to 220.
According to official data provided by the Palestine Liberation Organization Detainees Affairs Commission and the PPC, there are currently nearly 5,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including around 700 suffering diseases.
The causes of deaths in previous cases, said the PPC, have included torture during investigation, medical negligence, oppression, gun fire by Israeli soldiers inside Israeli jails, willful killings and field executions right after arrest.
