Access for Families of Deceased to Autopsy Reports

Petition filed in 2/01 with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), on behalf of the families of four Palestinian citizens of Israel killed in October 2000 by Israeli police against the Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv and Mahash (the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit). Although the families had requested copies of the autopsy reports for four months, both the Forensic Institute and Mahash refused to provide them with the documents. Adalah and PHR-I argued that the refusal to give the families copies of the reports is illegal and a breach of their fundamental rights protected by the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. There is no law prohibiting disclosure of autopsy reports to family members. Furthermore, the petitioners argued that the refusal is against the public interest and the right to know the facts and circumstances of these suspicious killings.

Result: Petition withdrawn in 3/01, when family members gained access to these reports from the official Commission of Inquiry.

(H.C. 1274/01, Ahmad Mohammad Jabareen, et. al. v. National Institute of Forensic Medicine, et. al.)