“SHAMS” Center received with great concern the announcement of the death of the arrested Abd al-Latif Abu Anwar, (45) years old, from the town of Balaa in the Tulkarm governorate. Abd Al- Latif was arrested about a month ago on a criminal background, after he hanged himself inside the headquarters of the Preventive Security in the city of Tulkarm, according to the official version.
“SHAMS” Center affirms that the direct announcement that the results of the preliminary investigations indicate that the cause of death is suicide is an anticipation of the results of the investigation that the Public Prosecution initiated after it referred the body to the forensic medicine institute for an autopsy to determine the causes of death.
“SHAMS” Center also looks with caution at the announced investigation step. Especially, in light of the usual ambiguity in the work of the investigation committees and the vagueness of the results they reach in previous similar cases, which are not informed or open to the public. Which increases the lack of transparency in the work environment of law enforcement agencies. This ambiguity is compounded by the absence of approval of a Palestinian law on the right to access information.
Accordingly, “SHAMS” Center calls for the need to respect the rights of inmates in accordance with international standards and best practices and stresses the need to ensure that the investigation committees have the characteristics of impartiality and integrity and that the investigations are responsive, effective, prompt and transparent, and their findings and recommendations to citizens are published and enforced. “SHAMS” Center calls for the necessity of taking measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in the future in light of the high rate of death of detainees.