Nizar Banat family to seek international justice ‘if necessary’

The family of the Palestinian activist says it will seek international intervention if justice for his death is ignored. “This is an international issue because the international community is funding the PA and instead of them spending the money on schools, hospitals etc, the money is going towards repression.” ‘Tribal reconciliation’ Family friend Hisham Sharabati, a human rights advocate with Palestinian rights group Al-Haq and political activist with the Hebron Defence Committee, told Al Jazeera the “family will also consider approaching the International Criminal Court, but only after other legal steps locally and internationally have been taken”. “They are now putting enormous pressure on the family by raiding family members’ homes and arresting relatives.” Nizar Banat, from the town of Dura in Hebron, was a vocal critic of the PA, regularly accusing it of corruption and nepotism, and had been subjected to censure including his ID being taken away. “Although the behaviour of the PA security forces has become a little better since Nizar’s death, they are raiding homes without search warrants and arresting family members without arrest warrants or approval from the prosecuting authorities.” ‘I worry about my sons’ The PA has accused family members of having guns and shooting one of the men allegedly involved in Nizar’s death at the family home, a charge the family denies. Ghassan said they issued a large number of identification cards with Nizar’s name and details on them, “to remember him after the PA confiscated his ID last year”.