Sofia (Bulgaria): A Palestinian activist wanted by the Israeli regime over the killing of a Jewish colonist 30 years ago was found dead Friday in Bulgaria, local police and the Palestinian National Authority said.

Omar Nayef Zayed, 51, was discovered in the courtyard of the Palestinian embassy in Sofia, police said. Bulgarian radio reported that he had fallen from the fourth floor.

A senior Palestinian Authority official said that Nayef “was discovered with serious torso injuries and died before emergency services arrived,” official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), of which Nayef was a member, cited in a statement his family as calling his death an “assassination”.

It said that Nayef, originally from Jenin in the West Bank, had sought refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia two months ago and had “received threats”.

He was convicted by an Israeli regime court in 1986 over an alleged murder case but escaped in 1990 during a visit to a Bethlehem hospital. He fled to Bulgaria in 1994 and married a local woman with whom he had three children.

Late last year Bulgarian authorities agreed to examine an Israeli extradition request but a December 14 hearing was postponed because Nayef was not at his address, the Bulgarian interior ministry said.

His death came a day after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov returned from an Israel trip. Borisov said he discussed Nayef with both Israeli and Palestinian officials during the visit.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has announced the formation of a special commission of enquiry to look into his death, Wafa said.

There was no official Israeli comment but Israeli public radio quoted “a security source” as saying that “Israel has no interest in striking at an elderly terrorist, especially if it involves danger or committing resources.”

Bulgarian authorities are investigating the death.

 

The Bulgarian prosecutor’s office said it was told by the embassy Friday morning of a death resulting from violence on the territory of the embassy. The Palestinian ambassador granted access to the investigators, it said, adding that the cause of death has not been established yet.

 

Israel asked the Bulgarian justice minister in 2015 to extradite him and Bulgarian authorities called on him to surrender. He refused and sought refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia.

His brother, Ahmad Zayad, and the other Palestinian were among those released in a 2011 swap for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, who had been held by Hamas-allied groups in Gaza for five years.

— AFP and AP