Palestinian Died in Custody of Shin Bet, Israel Radio Says

A Palestinian suffered a “traumatic external event” to his head that caused his death three days after his arrest by Israeli security forces, Israel Radio reported Thursday night.

Sources said two Israeli doctors and a doctor hired by the man’s family to perform an autopsy on Abd Samad Salman Harizat agreed that he died because of head injuries, not natural causes.

The family’s lawyer refused to comment on the Thursday finding.

Government spokesman Uri Dromi said the government will treat the results of Harizat’s autopsy seriously: “Now the Ministry of Justice will have to thoroughly investigate the case and the people who interrogated Harizat. With the results of this autopsy, and the media attention on this case, I am sure the Justice Ministry investigation will be quick and very decisive.”

He noted that the government recently shifted responsibility for investigating the secret security service, Shin Bet, to a special unit in the Justice Ministry. Previously, the agency was allowed to conduct its own internal investigations.

The autopsy’s findings are likely to embarrass the government and Shin Bet, whose agents were interrogating Harizat when he lost consciousness Saturday.

Harizat appears to be the first Palestinian prisoner to die from injuries suffered during interrogation since the government in January decided to allow Shin Bet to use more force when interrogating suspected members of Islamic militant groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has frequently portrayed Shin Bet as being engaged in a ferocious struggle with Islamic extremists bent on destroying Israel’s peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization. He has praised the agency for foiling attempted suicide bombings and ridiculed Israeli and international human rights groups who have criticized its methods.

Again Thursday, the army announced that it had foiled a would-be suicide bomber from the Hebron area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; he was captured, the army said, one day before he intended to carry out a suicide bombing in the coastal town of Netanya. There was no independent confirmation of that claim.

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Since Harizat’s death was announced, the army has reported the arrests of several Palestinians it alleges are members of the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, in the Hebron area. Harizat has been described by Israeli media as a “terrorist.”

The government decided to give interrogators greater leeway with Islamic militants after extremists from Islamic Jihad blew up themselves and 21 Israelis at the Beit Lid junction in northern Israel in January. Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have carried out suicide bombings that have killed 65 Israelis since October.

On Thursday, Islamic Jihad pledged in a leaflet circulated in the Gaza Strip that it will continue its suicide bombings.

An Israeli army spokesman said Harizat, 29, from Hebron, was a commander of Izzidin al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas.

The army said the cell he allegedly commanded carried out bombing attacks in the West Bank, including one that injured several soldiers. Harizat’s family denies that he was a military leader of Hamas; his only previous arrest was for distributing Hamas leaflets.

Human rights groups have long asserted that Israeli security agents routinely use force--and sometimes resort to torture--when interrogating Palestinian prisoners.

In 1987, a special, government-appointed commission set out guidelines for interrogation that included a secret annex detailing “physical pressure” that interrogators could use in situations where information must be extracted quickly from prisoners to prevent loss of life.

Israeli and international human rights groups contend that the commission’s guidelines are routinely exceeded by security forces--a charge Israel denies vehemently.

Harizat was brought to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital unconscious Saturday afternoon. He was in a coma when his family was informed of his condition and allowed to visit him later that day.

After Harizat died Tuesday, his lawyer, Andre Rosenthal, said he had suffered brain injuries during interrogation. The family agreed to an autopsy and flew in a specialist from Scotland to participate in it on Thursday.