UPDATE: The Institute for Forensic Medicine in Jerusalem released a statement saying that the bus driver whose body was found hanging was not murdered. The autopsy results were delivered to his family. According to the autopsy statement, there were no signs of violence on the body.
Yusuf Hasan al-Ramouni, 32, an Arab driver working for the Israeli Egged bus cooperative, was found dead from hanging at the Har Hotzvim terminal northwest of Jerusalem late Sunday, Ma’an reported.
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Witnesses told Ma’an that other drivers saw al-Ramouni’s bus parked in the bus terminal during his working hours. One driver checked inside the bus and found al-Ramouni’s body hanging from a steel bar in the middle of the bus.
His colleagues cut the body down and he was taken to Hadassah hospital. Medics at the bus station tried to resuscitate him but he was later pronounced dead.
Ma’an reports that images of the body taken by friends and family show minor bruises around the neck and abdomen, which has led relatives to claim he was murdered by Israelis.
The Palestinian daily Al-Quds quoted family members who said al-Ramouni was “lynch” by four or six Jewish men, beaten and hung by a string around his neck.
Israeli police have called the incident a suicide, pending a Monday autopsy results.
Local Arabs are saying they reject that conclusion. Several Arab drivers have gone on strike Monday in protest. Then clashes broke out in the al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem and the neighboring Abu Dis village.
Al-Ramouni left a widow and two children.
