Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Friday that he is forming a committee to investigate the death of Riyad al-Amour, a 56-year-old Palestinian detainee who was released from Israeli custody following years of abuse and neglect and deported to Egypt.
The Palestinian Authority previously suspended Dr Fadi Kassab, the medical advisor at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo , until the investigation is complete.
The death of the detainee, Riyad al-Amour, has sparked widespread questions over the circumstances that occurred and the possibility of serious medical negligence. Amour died six months after his release and suffered from many illnesses, including a heart condition and the loss of hearing in one ear, reports say.
He had spent at least 23 years in Israeli prisons before he was released in a recent prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
The newly formed committee will be made up of Samir al-Rifai, a member of the Fatah Central Committee; Raed Abu al-Homs, the head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs; Mohammed Abu Jameh, the undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs for public affairs and embassies; Raed al-Louzi, a representative from the department of regions abroad, and a representative from the ministry of health.
According to various reports in Arabic media, al-Amour, a resident of Bethlehem had undergone several surgeries in recent days after he suffered from setbacks to his health.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said that Amour had suffered years of systematic abuse in Israeli custody, saying he was arrested in 2002 and had faced serious health issues since then.
On Friday, hundreds of people visited al-Amour’s family home to offer their condolences after his death was announced.
The mourners were disrupted by a call from an Israeli intelligence officer who threatened the family, warning them against raising any Palestinian flag or flags of any groups or factions.
The intelligence officer also threatened to raid the area and arrest those present if the instructions were not followed carefully.
Habes al-Amour, Riyad’s brother, told The New Arab that he recognised the officer’s voice.
"It was the same one who told me, forty days before my brother was released from prison, that he was very ill and wouldn’t live much longer".
"I told the officer ‘you deported him to Egypt, and prevented us – his brothers and children – from travelling to see him, and now you’re preventing us from mourning him. Is there any greater injustice than this?"
Al-Amour’s son, Mohammed, was only two years old when his father was arrested. His siblings, Montaser, Aya, Lina and Malak, were all forbidden from travelling to Egypt to see him.
Al-Amour’s family have accused Israel of killing him slowly by administering drugs improperly and medical neglect. According to Habes, days before his brother fell into a coma at a private hospital in Egypt, he revealed that a nurse in the Israeli prisons had been giving him four unknown pills for three months before his release.
"One of the doctors asked me to contact the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah so they could in turn contact the Israeli government and know what was in these pills," Habes said.
He also believes that Israel decided to kill him slowly so he would not live long after his release.
The family now say they have one remaining wish – that Israel allows them to travel on Sunday through the Karameh crossing in order to attend his burial.
Last year, anonymous testimonies from Palestinian prisoners revealed the horrific rape, torture, and abuse that they suffered while being detained by Israel, despite Israeli attempts to threaten them into silence.
Video footage has previously emerged of Israeli soldiers gang-raping Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman prison facility .