At approximately 10:00a.
m.
on Saturday 25 June 2011, the dead body of Ibrahim Al-A’raj, 45, was admitted to the Shuhadaa Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah town.
 The dead body was referred to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for forensic examination.
 Al-A’raj was from the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City.
  According to field information obtained by the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, at approximately 10:00 a.
m.
on Thursday 23 June 2011, five persons dressed in civilian clothes, who introduced themselves as members of the Anti Drug Police Unit, stopped Al-A’raj and three of his friends while they were selling horses in the market in Al-Bureij refugee camp.
  The police carried Al-A’raj and his friends to the Abu ’Ireban police station in An-Nuseirat refugee camp.
 At approximately 6:30 p.
m.
On the same day, the police released Al-A’raj's friends but kept Al-A’raj himself in detention.
  In his affidavit to Al Mezan, one of those detained stated:   While we were selling horses and surrounded by several merchants, I saw a motorcycle and a white Peugeot car approach us.
 About three guys dressed in civilian clothes got out of the car.
 They asked us for our names.
 They searched us and confiscated our cell phones.
 They did not introduce themselves and where they work.
 They did not show us any warrant.
 They then took us to the car and drove us to an apartment in a building in the main street of An-Nuseirat.
 I asked them who they were and why they were arresting us.
 One of them said that they were from the Anti Drug Police Unit and that we were under precautionary imprisonment.
 They detained us in a room, except for my friend Ibrahim.
 I could hear Ibrahim’s voice while he was screaming and asking for mercy.
  The same source later heard from another of the friends detained with Ibrahim that Ibrahim had passed away and his dead body would be admitted to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
 He went to the morgue and found two police officers there.
 They asked him about his relationship with Ibrahim.
 The police officers then introduced themselves as members of the Criminal Evidence Unit and began to interrogate him.
 A doctor then asked for help from the two police officers and Ibrahim’s friend in carrying the dead body.
 At this point Ibrahim’s friend saw the body.
 “Ibrahim’s eyes were opened and red.
 His forehead was blue and swollen.
 His hands and under his right arm were blue.
” He informed Al Mezan.
  Al-A'raj’s son stated that the police prevented the family from visiting his father while he was in detention.
 He added that when he went to Shuhadaa Al Aqsa Hospital, he saw bruises on his father's body.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns this incident and expresses its great concern over the repetition of such incidents, which raise suspicions that the police and security apparatus use torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment against civilians.
 Al Mezan notes that this case is the second case in which a detainee has died in detention in June 2011.
 In May 2011, one detainee was admitted to a health center in critical condition and another died.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls on the public prosecution to initiate prompt, serious, and transparent investigations into the death of Al-A’raj and similar previous incidents and to bring to justice those whose involvement in the torture of detainees is proven.
 Al Mezan calls for the Attorney-General to issue strict instructions that ensure that law enforcement officers and investigators do not practice any physical or psychological torture against detainees.
 It also calls on the Attorney-General to institute closer observation of detention centers and to take effective procedures to ensure detainees are not subject to torture.
  End