No more than 20 Palestinians attended the funeral of 25-year-old Ibrahim Matar killed by the Israeli army in mid-March on Wednesday night.
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) released Matar’s body after they closed off all access roads to al-Mujahideen Cemetery in Bab al-Sahira in Jerusalem’s Old City and prevented hundreds of Matar’s family members and friends from marching in his funeral procession.
The IOA released the body of the slain Palestinian youth Ibrahim Matar overnight on conditions that no more than 20 persons attend his funeral that his family pay 20000 shekels as a guarantee and that his body be handed over between 11:00 p.m. and 01:00 a.m.
Matar was killed by the Israeli occupation forces on March 13 2017 after he was arrested and searched at a police station in Bab al-Asbat in Jerusalem’s Old City. An Israeli officer fatally shot him on his way out of the detention center on claims that he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack. The family denied the allegations and said their son was heading to al-Aqsa Mosque to perform dawn prayers.
The Israeli police claimed that two officers sustained light-to-moderate injuries in a stabbing attack carried out by Matar.
The IOA further prevented Matar’s family from setting up a mourning tent in Jabal al-Mukabir the casualty’s hometown.
The bodies of six slain anti-occupation Palestinian youths are still withheld by the IOA.
