🔴*Autopsy Report Confirms Martyrdom of Palestinian Detainee Through Torture* Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & Palestinian Prisoners’ Society

🔴*Autopsy Report Confirms Martyrdom of Palestinian Detainee Through Torture*

 

Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & Palestinian Prisoners’ Society

January 23, 2025

 

Ramallah, Palestine – The Palestinian detainee Mohammad Hussein al-‘Aref (45) was deliberately killed through torture by Israeli occupation forces during his interrogation at the Jalama detention center, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) have revealed. 

 

The details became clear after an autopsy was conducted and an initial medical report was provided to his family. ‘Aref, who was arrested on November 28, 2024, lost his life less than a week later, on December 4, 2024. The medical report notes that there were “multiple signs of physical assault and excessive use of restraints […] likely causing traumatic intracranial bleeding.” The report also outlines the presence of blood clots in various parts of his body, signs of a heart attack, and a pulmonary obstruction. The blood clots were found in the left side of his head, both arms and legs, chest, and abdomen.

 

‘Aref, who hails from the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, was transferred from the Jalama interrogation center directly to the Israeli occupation’s Rambam Hospital where he was declared dead shortly after arriving. 

 

The martyred detainee ‘Aref is one of 56 Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were killed and died in Israeli prisons after the outbreak of the Gaza genocide. This number only reflects those whose identities have been confirmed. There are many other prisoners from Gaza who have been killed in Israel’s prisons and military detention camps, which it refuses to provide information on. 

 

The assassination of detainee Mohammad al-‘Aref is part of a broader pattern of systematic crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails and detention camps for decades. Particularly since the genocide, dozens of prisoners and detainees have been killed through torture, alongside deprivation of medical care, intentional starvation, and severe beatings. This is the highest number of killings in prison on record. 

 

Torture methods have now exceeded previously recognized forms and have evolved into new techniques, beginning from the very first moment of arrest. These include violent arrest, intimidation, severe beatings, restraints that intentionally cause excruciating pain and injury, "shabah" (forcing them into strenuous positions), detention in degrading and humiliating conditions, verbal abuse against detainees and their families, long periods of interrogation, sleep deprivation, starvation, and sexual assault, including rape.