A rights group submitted to the UN special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions, and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment a complaint on the death of the Palestinian Zaki Mubarak inside a Turkish prison days after his arrest.
The Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights demanded an investigation into the suspicions that Mubarak may have been tortured and killed by Turkish authorities, saying it had several pieces of evidence from his lawyer and family.
The foundation said that Mubarak and his colleague Samer Shaban disappeared on April 3 in Turkey.
Three weeks later, Turkish authorities were forced to declare their arrest and that they were placed in individual cells in the notorious Silivri Penitentiaries Campus near Istanbul.
Turkey accused them of espionage for the UAE without presenting any evidence, said Zaki’s lawyer, who said they would be released on April 30.
Soon after, however, Turkish authorities said Mubarak had committed suicide.
The Maat foundation warned that the other suspect may be a victim of the same fate. It therefore demanded that an investigation be opened in Mubarak’s death.
Head of the foundation Ayman Aqil urged a quick and independent probe with the participation of international and UN agencies.
Turkey has repeatedly refused to hand Mubarak's body to his family. The family as accused Ankara of stalling in order to hide the evidence of torture on the victim.
