A funeral service was held on Sunday for Palestinian Minister Qadri Abu Bakr in the presence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the PA headquarters, the Muqata’a, in Ramallah.

Qadri Abu Bakr, 70, who served as the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission, died on Saturday in a car accident at Route 505 near the town of Jamma’in, north of the occupied West Bank.

During the funeral service, President Abbas gave a final farewell look at the body of Abu Bakr and laid a wreath of flowers on his coffin.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, President of the Palestine National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein Al-Sheikh, Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj, ministers and members of the PLO Executive Committees participated in the official funeral ceremony.

Guards of honor lined up as the coffin of Abu Bakr arrived at the presidential residence, while the Palestinian national anthem and funeral music were played in honor of the Palestinian official.

Two others died in the car crash, including a freed Palestinian prisoner Basem Safwan and his wife. The three were returning from an event held in the honor of the children of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Who is Abu Baker

The Palestinian minister had spent 17 years in an Israeli prison. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail for taking part in the resistance. Following his release, he was exiled to Iraq.

Abbas described Abu Bakr as a man who “had spent his life steadfastly defending Palestine, her cause, her people and the independent Palestinian national decision.”

For its part, Hamas “recalled the proud legacies of Abu Baker and Safwan, and their role in defending the detainees and their cause.”

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission said that Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Naqab (Negev) prison will observe a three-day mourning period.

(PC, Wafa, Mayadeen)