Family files complaint vs Palestinian Authority before ICC
Nizar Banat’s family seeks justice for his death
Nizar Banat’s family seeks justice for his death
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — The family of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat will submit a case Thursday to the International Criminal Court accusing top Palestinian officials over his death in custody, relatives told AFP.
Banat, a leading critic of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas, died in June 2021 after being dragged from his home in the occupied West Bank by security forces.
A post-mortem found he had been beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, with less than an hour elapsing between his arrest and his death.
"We demand justice for a man who was doing nothing but speaking the truth to power," the family's, lawyer Hakan Camuz, said.
Any person or group can file a complaint to The Hague-based ICC prosecutor for investigation, but the court is not obliged to take them on.
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The case to be lodged at ICC accuses seven Palestinian officials of responsibility for Banat's death.
The decision to take the case to the ICC comes after 14 members of the Palestinian security forces were released on bail, pending their military trial in the West Bank over Banat's death.
The activist's brother, Ghassan Banat, said their release earlier this year left him believing "there is no justice enforcement."
"At that time, we understood that the regime of the Palestinian Authority, the police, the security officers, have more authority than the court, that they were above the court," he said.
"That is why we have decided to move on to the international arena."
The move marks the first time a Palestinian will lodge a complaint at the ICC against another Palestinian, according to the family's lawyer.
The dissident's brother said he was killed when he "challenged Mahmud Abbas and was telling people the truth about the real situation of the Palestinian Authority."
Abbas has held office since 2005 and last year cancelled long-delayed elections.
The step by the Banat family follows the Al Jazeera broadcaster taking a case to the ICC last week over its slain reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, arguing she was deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces.
