PA security man found dead in Ramallah

The body of a Palestinian security officer was discovered on Tuesday in his apartment in Ramallah. The officer, Hassan Jalayta, 40, from Jericho, had been summoned for questioning by his commanders.

Jalayta left his family home in Jericho on Tuesday morning and was supposed to report for questioning, but did not show up, a Palestinian Authority security source said.

The source did not say why the officer, who worked for the Preventive Security Service, had been summoned for questioning in Ramallah.

His body was discovered in the morning in his rented apartment in the Um al- Sharayet neighborhood of Ramallah, the source said.

Adnan Dmairi, spokesman for the PA security forces in the West Bank, said that the officer’s body has been sent to a forensic institute for autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Jalayta’s family members, however, claimed that he died while being held inside the headquarters of the Preventive Security Service in Ramallah.

The family staged a protest outside the police station in Jericho, demanding an inquiry into their son’s death.

Last year, another PA security officer, Osama Aqel, died while being questioned by the PA’s General Intelligence Service.

The PA said then that Aqel had committed suicide by jumping from the third floor while he was being escorted to court. Aqel had been suspected of working for ousted Fatah official Muhammad Dahlan.

Dahlan, a former PA security commander, was expelled from Fatah and forced to leave the West Bank after he fell out with PA President Mahmoud Abbas. He is living in the United Arab Emirates, and has since been waging a campaign against Abbas through the media, accusing the PA president and his sons of corruption.