Palestinian Sought by Israel Dies in Bulgaria

Bulgarian authorities are investigating the death of a Palestinian citizen, Omar Nayef Zayed, who was found in a critical condition in the grounds of the Palestinian embassy in Sofia on Friday.

He died at the scene before the paramedics could take him to hospital, the Secretary-General of the Interior Ministry, Georgi Kostov, said. This was later confirmed by the embassy.

Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov said no signs of stabbing or gunshots were found on the body, but this will become clearer after the autopsy.

He said investigators were working on several versions of the causes of the death, including that he fell from a building.

A member of the Palestinian diplomatic mission, speaking anonymously, told BIRN that he saw traces of blood at the site.

Zayed, then a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was convicted in 1986 of the murder of an Israeli student in Jerusalem and sentenced to ? life in an Israeli prison.

In 1991, he escaped. He moved to Bulgaria in 1994, where started a small business, married and had three children. Zayed obtained permission to reside in Bulgaria in 2012.

Last December, however, Israel requested his extradition and the Bulgarian authorities ordered his arrest for 72 hours.

Since then he had taken refuge in the Palestinian embassy. Palestinian ambassador to Bulgaria Ahmed al Madbuh made it clear that the embassy considered the event a murder.

"We think that those who were still persecuting him did something against him," he said on Friday.

Madbuh added that the Palestinian authorities had formed a committee of inquiry to participate in a joint investigation with the Bulgarian authorities, which would arrive in Sofia on Saturday.

"For us, Omar...