Palestinian Commission Investigates Death of Omar Zayed in Sofia

A Palestinian commission has arrived in the Bulgarian capital to investigate the death of Omar Zayed whose body was found in the yard of the Palestinian embassy in Sofia on Friday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas entrusted the commission with investigating the circumstances behind the death of the Palestinian citizen, whose extradition had been requested by Israel in connection with serving the remainder of his life imprisonment sentence.

Zayed was convicted of the murder of an Israeli yeshiva student in occupied East Jerusalem in 1986.

The four-member commission is led by the Palestinian deputy foreign minister, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) informs.

The commission will first make an internal investigation on the territory of the embassy.

It will work in coordination with the Bulgarian investigative authorities.

The commission already had a meeting with a delegation of the Bulgarian foreign ministry led by Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin Poryazov.

The Palestinian embassy was officially informed that according to Bulgarian legislation its representatives can not attend the autopsy of Zayed.

The Palestinian commission will remain in Bulgaria until it completes all the work it had been tasked with.

Following the incident, a 24-hour guard has been placed at the embassy.