The Palestinian Authority’s minister for prisoners’ affairs has said Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat was tortured before he died in an Israeli jail.

Late on Sunday, Issa Qaraqea revealed the results of autopsy at a press conference in the city of Ramallah in West Bank, The Guardian reported.

Qaraqaa dismissed Israeli prison officials’ claims that Jaradat had died of cardiac arrest in Israel’s Magiddo prison.

The Palestinian minister said Jaradat’s autopsy showed torture that caused fractures in his body and skull, while his heart was in good condition.

The 30-year-old died in Megido prison on Saturday. He was arrested on February 18 on suspicion he was involved in hurling stones at Israeli troopers.

His death has sparked anger among Palestinians who want an international probe.

On Saturday, Qaraqea called for an international investigation into the death of the Palestinian prisoner.

“Our information was that Jaradat was being interrogated and then he died. Therefore we call for an international investigation into his death that may have resulted from torture,” he was quoted as saying.

Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, said Jaradat suffered from various health problems prior to his arrest, including backaches and injuries to his leg and stomach, sustained from a rubber bullet and a tear gas canister.

But the chairman of the West Bank-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an association that supports Palestinians in Israeli prisons, said Jaradat did not suffer from any prior illness.

“Israel was responsible for his life,” Qadoura Fares added.

More than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, many of them without charge or trial. Four of these prisoners -- Ayman Sharawneh, Samer al-Issawi, Jaafar Ezzedine, and Tareq Qaa’dan -- have been on hunger strike for months.

Source: PressTV