Gaza – Ma’an – The family of the late Palestinian doctor Adnan al-Barsh on Tuesday rejected Israel’s request to conduct an autopsy on the body of their son, who was martyred on May 2 in an Israeli prison, months after he was arrested while working at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Barash, said, “The occupation opened an internal investigation (into Adnan’s death), and its police requested an autopsy of his body, but the family refused.”
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Al-Barsh, the cousin of the late surgeon, called for “an international investigation into the assassination of Dr. Adnan during the arrest and investigation process in Israeli prisons.”
Before his martyrdom, Dr. Al-Barash held the position of consultant and head of the orthopedics department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.
Al-Barash was arrested in December 2023 while he was in Al-Awda Hospital (north) along with a group of doctors, and Israel is still withholding
his body.
Demands for an international investigation
On May 16, Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, called for ‘an independent international investigation into the circumstances of Al-Barsh’s death.’
On several occasions, Palestinian governmental and human rights institutions have warned of the seriousness of the conditions inside Israeli prisons due to the torture that detainees, especially those from the Gaza Strip, are subjected to during arrest and investigation, which has led to the death of some of them.
Source: Maan News Agency