The family of Omar Asaad, the 80 years old Palestinian-American from the village of Jaljilia, north of Ramallah, who died of a heart attack in January of last year while held by Israeli soldiers in a cold night with his hands cuffed and blindfolded, said today that it will appeal the decision of the Israeli military prosecutor to close his file without charging any of the soldiers responsible for his death. The family's attorney, Hassan Khatib, said he will file an appeal against the decision to close Asaad's investigation file without issuing indictments against the soldiers who caused his death. He told WAFA that if the military prosecution refuses to accept the appeal, a petition will be filed with the Israeli Supreme Court in this regard. He pointed out that the prosecution had announced in January of this year that it would file an indictment against the soldiers who committed the crime against Asaad, but after the arrival of the new far-right Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu the decision was aborted at orders from the political leadership. Khatib said the Asaad case is proceeding in two tracks: the first is criminal with the military prosecution, and the second is legal with the Israeli District Court, which in October of last year offered financial compensation to the Asaad family in exchange for dropping the case, which the family had rejected. He stressed that the legal procedures will continue until justice is achieved for the deceased who died while he was handcuffed and blindfolded. Asaad died at dawn on January 12 of last year after he was pulled out of his car, dragged and tortured by Israeli occupation soldiers outside his village, and held for several hours in a house that was under construction in extreme cold weather conditions and was left there after he died without the soldiers, who had left the area, doing anything for him. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the force responsible for the death of Asaad is called the "Nitzah Yehuda" battalion, which includes extremist settlers, some of whom live in outposts in the West Bank, and its soldiers carry out attacks against the Palestinians. The newspaper said that the most prominent tasks of that division in the occupation army are stopping Palestinian vehicles, disembarking their passengers, abusing them, and assaulting them physically, and this is exactly what happened with Asaad.
Source: En - Palestine news & Information Agency - WAFA