Field Update

On
Friday early morning, 25 April 2014, the Palestinian police found the corpse of
Fadel Ahmed al-Astal (53), a moneychanger from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza
Strip, as he had been missing since Wednesday, 23 April 2014.  There were bullet signs found on his
head.  This incident is part of the state
of security chaos and assaults on the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian
territory (oPt).

According
to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR),
on Friday early morning, 25 April 2014, the Palestinian police found the corpse
of Fadel al-Astal, who works as a currency exchanger in the southern Gaza, in a
bookshop in the center of the city.  The
corpse was tied, and the head was covered with a sack.  Palestinian police sources stated to a PCHR
fieldworker that on Wednesday, 23 April 2014, they were informed by the family
of al-Astal that they lost the track of him on Wednesday.  The police sources added that they found
al-Astal’s motorbike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and arrested 2 persons
on suspicion of being involved in the murder. 
The police stated that one of the two suspects admitted shooting al-Astal
to the head while the other one admitted helping him to hide the corpse.  According to sources at the Public
Prosecution in Khan Yunis, the murder was committed on the ground of financial
transactions between the two parties.

PCHR
strongly condemns this crime that is part of the state of security chaos and
assaults on the rule of law in the oPt. PCHR also calls upon the Attorney
General to seriously investigate the crime and bring the perpetrators before
justice.