PRESS RELEASE

Released @ 1:00 GMT 5^th October 1998

A Palestinian Prisoner in Israeli Jail Died

Ahmed Asfour, a Palestinian prisoner in Israel, was reported dead yesterday at Soroka Hospital in Israel. On 28^th September his family received a phone call from a prisoner at Beer Shiva prison. He communicated them that Ahmed Asfur had committed a suicide and was transferred to Soroka hospital. On 1^st October his ICRC’s representative visited him in the hospital and reported that he founded Ahmed Asfour unconscious. On 4^th October Soroka hospital communicated that Ahmed Asfour died.

The family of Ahmed Asfour did not received an official statement of his death neither from the Israeli prison’s administration nor from Soroka hospital. Every member of the family was denied access to the hospital while Ahmed Asfour was there and they knew about his death after phoning the hospital on 4^th October.

It should be highlighted that Ahmed Asfour was a Palestinian resident in Yemen. He came with his family to the Gaza Strip using a visit permit on October 1995 and did not leave the area in due time. On 9^th December 1997, Ahmed was detained by the Israeli Authorities while he was attempting to enter Israel in order to work without a permit. He was sentenced to six months. This period should have finished on 16^th June 1998 but, since then, he remained in prison awaiting for deportation.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights consider the Israel Authorities responsible for the death of Ahmed Asfour, who remained illegally in prison since 16^th June 1998. Taking into consideration similar death cases in Israeli prisons, the PCHR does not accept the suicide of Ahmed Asfour as the cause of his death and thus, it urges an immediate investigation of the case.