Palestinians grant bail to those accused of murdering Nizar Banat

The group formally demanded their release on Tuesday, which was granted by the prosecution on the condition that they attend court hearings.

The risk of the coronavirus spreading to the West Bank prison where they were being held was cited as a reason for their release.

This justification was denied by Banat’s widow, who also accused the administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of not being able to credibly judge those accused of murdering her husband.

“The killer cannot be a judge,” Jihan Banat told AFP, describing the decision to release the suspects on bail as “political”.

“If the Palestinian Authority is concerned about the spread of the coronavirus, why not release all the other offending prisoners?”

Banat died in June 2021 after security forces stormed his home in the flashpoint city of Hebron and dragged him away. The autopsy found that he had been beaten in the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, less than an hour between his arrest and his death.

The top Palestinian prosecutor accused the 14 members of the security forces of beating Banat to death. The Palestinian Authority promised accountability through a military trial in the West Bank.

But Majed Al-Arouri, a Ramallah-based legal expert, said releasing the suspects without a judicial order was “illegal” and highlighted wider concerns about the PA’s handling of the case. “The past six months have revealed intentional procrastination in judicial proceedings against people accused of killing Nizar Banat,” Arouri said.