A member of the Palestinian Hamas organization was found dead Monday in a West Bank prison run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), a Palestinian security official said. Brigadier General Adnan Damiri, a security forces spokesman, said Fadi Hamadneh, 28, from Assira al-Shamalia, committed suicide in the Jneid prison in the West Bank city of Nablus.
“The security officers have found out that he had wrapped bedcovers around his neck,” he said.
A relative of Hamadneh held in the same prison was reportedly brought to identify Hamadneh’s body. Hamas has since accused the security forces, which are loyal to Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, of torturing Hamadneh to death during interrogations.
Damiri, however, said interrogations concluded ten days after the Hamadneh detention in June. Palestinian Intelligence Forces arrested Hamadneh in mid-June on charges of affiliating with Hamas. According to a family member, he had been told he would be released within a week.
The PA has since launched an investigation into Hamadneh’s death, though Hamas maintains he died at the hands of PA torture. Hamadneh’s death is the third Hamas member to die in PA-run prisons in recent months.
