Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission on Saturday unveiled a testimony by prisoner Feras Omari who met with slain prisoner Aziz Oweisat in the Bosta a vehicle used for the transfer of Palestinian prisoners while he was being transferred from Eshel prison to Ramle clinic on 7th May.
Oweisat died a few days ago from a heart attack he suffered after being brutally beaten by Israeli prison guards.
Feras Omari said that when he entered the Bosta he saw blue bruises all over Oweisat’s face adding that when he asked him about what happened he told him that 10 Israeli guards broke into his cell in Eshel prison on 2nd May and beat and punched him brutally.
“I noticed that he was suffering from pains in his chest and he could barely breathe” Omari said.
Commenting on this testimony head of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission Issa Qaraqe said that the results of the autopsy conducted for Oweista’s body on 25th May showed bruises on his right waist and marks of chains on his hands and feet.
Qaraqe said that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) committed three crimes against Oweisat. First Oweisat was suffering from heart problems. He underwent an open-heart surgery in 1998 and a cardiac catheterization in 2003. Despite the fact that the IPS was aware of his health condition no proper treatment was offered to him so his health kept worsening day by day.
Second the Israeli guards’ attack on Oweisat led to further deterioration in his health until he died from a heart attack on 20th May.
Third Oweisat was violently beaten and assaulted although the IPS and the prison doctors were fully aware of his critical health condition. They were the reason behind the complications that he suffered after the attack and later led to his death.
Qaraqe stressed that this is a deliberate and complex crime that is added to an endless series of violations committed by the IPS against Palestinian prisoners and requires the intervention of the International Criminal Court.
