Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 14 June 2016| 08 Ramadaan 1437
JERUSALEM — The Israeli minister of public security and the Israeli general prosecution agreed on Monday to return seven detained bodies of Palestinians to their families, but have yet to confirm a deadline for their release
Lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud who works with the prisoners’ rights group Addameer said that he received a “positive answer” to a petition he submitted to an Israeli court asking for the return of bodies of Palestinians who were killed while allegedly committing or attempting to commit attacks.
Mahmoud stressed that the answer he received from Israeli prosecution did not set a deadline for returning the bodies “which have been kept in morgues for several months.” This ambiguity in the answer, he said, is meant to “mislead the court.”
Six of the Palestinians were from occupied East Jerusalem and the seventh, was from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.
According to Mahmoud, the answer stated that after examining the situation, the Israeli minister of public security agreed to return the bodies included in the petition to their families in accordance with the terms set by Israeli police.
The terms include, among others, that a limited number of people join the funeral; families deposit an amount of money to guarantee that they will adhere with police stipulations, and that the burial must be at night and immediately after the family receives the body.
Mahmoud highlighted the Israeli authorities’ recent decision that Israeli police have the right to determine which cemetery the body will be buried in, and where the funeral will take place. Israeli police claimed that the new term was added to enable police to contain alleged “incitement” at Palestinian funerals held for alleged attackers.
The news of the impending return of the seven bodies comes amidst a constant back and forth in recent weeks, regarding decisions to hold bodies of suspected Palestinian attackers. Israeli authorities continue to hold at least a dozen Palestinian bodies in refrigerated conditions in Israel.
Source – Maan News
Picture credit – Maan news
