Palestinian doctors revealed on Wednesday that Palestinian American elderly man Omar Asad, who died after being detained by Israeli soldiers on January 12, died of a stress-induced heart attack caused by the circumstances of his detention, Israeli media reported.
According to The Times of Israel, the autopsy also listed other injuries on Asad’s body, such as “bruises and abrasions”, due to the shackles around Asad’s wrists.
Hundreds of grieving Palestinian mourners participated in funeral of 80-year-old Palestinian-American, Omar Abul-Majid As’ad, who died after being detained and brutally beaten by Israeli occupation forces during a military raid in the occupied West Bank.https://t.co/fXE6eBE6QY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2022
Isreali soldiers detained 78-year-old Omar Asad, at around 3 AM, during a raid in the occupied West Bank village of Jiljilya, near Ramallah.
Fouad Moutee, head of the Jiljilya village council, told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that Asad was going home after a visit to his relatives when Israeli soldiers stopped his vehicle and pulled him out, blindfolded and handcuffed him, before leaving him in an under-construction building.
At approximately 4:30 in the morning, after the Israeli soldiers had left the area, residents rushed to the building and found Asad’s lifeless body. Palestinians hold Israeli soldiers responsible for his death.
Later on that day, the US State Department called for a thorough investigation into the death of the Palestinian-American citizen.
An Israeli investigation into the shocking death of 80-yr-old Palestinian American Omar Asad suggests,no Israeli soldier will be prosecuted, despite confirmation by investigators & eyewitnesses that he was blindfolded, gagged, handcuffed, nd left on the ground before passing out. pic.twitter.com/XazWQw3WID
— Johann Spischak (@SDGMasterglass) January 25, 2022
“We support a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this incident”, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, while pointing that the US State Department had expressed its condolences to the family about this tragedy and offered to provide consular assistance.
A leaked report by the Israeli news site Ynet on Sunday revealed that an Israeli investigation suggested that no Israeli soldier will be prosecuted.
Asad was a former resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he lived for decades, and moved back to the West Bank 10 years ago.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
