A year after the killing of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, the quest for justice continues
Palestinian activist Nizar Banat succumbed to his injuries after being arrested and beaten by members of the Palestinian Authority security forces on Thursday, June 24, 2021. AP - Nasser Nasser
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2 mins
A year after the murder of the famous Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, his family still hopes that international justice will take up the case.
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With our special correspondent in Hebron
,
Sami Boukhelifa
For a year, nothing has changed.
At the entrance to the neighborhood where Nizar Banat lived, his portrait is painted on several walls.
Banners honor him.
Dressed all in black,
Jihane Banat, the activist's widow
, is still in mourning.
“
It's so hard.
We feel his absence every day.
And during the holidays, like during Eid or the month of Ramadan, it's even harder.
On the first evening of Ramadan, we couldn't even break the fast, because he was gone.
I don't leave my house anymore
, ”she testifies.
And the mother is not alone in this ordeal.
The whole family mourns Nizar Banat,
beaten to death by members of the Palestinian security forces.
“
My eldest just got her baccalaureate, and we didn't celebrate.
I couldn't even make it to my other daughter's end-of-year party.
She was so sad.
She is very young.
She said to me: why didn't dad come?
All the other girls were with their fathers, who were taking pictures of them.
I explained to her that her father was in heaven, but that one day he would come back to take her picture
, ”adds the mother of the family.
"
It's not the law of the jungle"
The 14 members of the Palestinian security forces indicted for the murder of Nizar Banat have been released from pre-
trial detention
.
They were released on bail, officially due to Covid-19.
But this version, Jihane Banat does not believe in it: “
It is not the law of the jungle.
You cannot kill a person and be released as if nothing had happened because there is an epidemic of Covid-19 in the prison where you are incarcerated.
Or, in that case, that they release all the other detainees, and not just Nizar's murderers.
»
According to Master Mostafa Shatate, he and all the other lawyers of the Banat family have withdrawn from the case before the courts.
They denounce “
a sham trial
”.
Very committed, Nizar Banat regularly published videos in which he accused
certain Palestinian officials of “
corruption ”.
His death had provoked a wave of indignation, and triggered unprecedented demonstrations against power in Ramallah.
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