Family of Palestinian who died in custody questions Turkey’s suicide narrative, urges international probe

Date:01May2019

The family of a Palestinian man, Zaki Mubarak, who recently died in custody in Turkey has rejected the Turkish government’s explanation that he committed suicide in prison, calling for an international probe into the incident.

“We want an international committee to investigate the cause of death, which we think is ambiguous,” Mubarak’s brother told news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

The brother said that Mubarak’s family has contacted international organisations over the matter.

According to the pan-Arab newspaper, the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK and Europe alleged that Mubarak was tortured to death by Turkish security forces, and called on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to send a committee to examine Mubarak’s body.