Family of Palestinian who died in Turkish jail waiting for new autopsy, report

The family of a Palestinian who died while in Turkish custody said they are still waiting for a new medical report and autopsy to be performed before they consent to transfer his body from Cairo to Gaza.

Last month, Turkey said that Zaki Mubarak, one of two Palestinian men arrested on alleged espionage charges in April, died while in custody and called his death a suicide. His family said Mubarak’s body showed signs of torture and have demanded an international investigation into the case.

Apart from a planned autopsy, Mubarak’s brother Zakaria said that they were also waiting for a medical team’s report from the Palestinian embassy which observed the body without performing an autopsy.

“We want the report so that we can take it to the International Criminal Court, the Hague Tribunal or any other international court since it has been proven that my brother was killed,” said Zakaria Mubarak.

According to one of Mubarak’s cousins, the family has seen a lack of effort from Palestinian authorities to monitor and follow-up on the case from the beginning.

“We officially demand from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian public prosecutor to submit a report to form a judicial committee to investigate this failure,” said Abs Mubarak.

The family’s lawyer told Al Arabiya that the family is also waiting for a response from the Egyptian Attorney General’s office to their request for an autopsy and a new medical report.

“The victim, Zaki Yusuf Mubarak, was being held at Silivri Prison, which has 24-monitoring via cameras. We asked the Turkish authorities to show us footage of his cell but they said they did not have any despite them having shown footage in other cases,” Ghonaim Sharif told Al Arabiya.