Ramallah: A suspect has confessed to the murder of 10-year-old Khalid Badei Barham from Jenin and has taken police to the burial site.
Police allege that the boy was kidnapped while returning home last Wednesday and was later hanged to death. Khalid’s body was kept in a plastic packet and buried in a camel farm in the village of Muthalth Al Shuhadaa in Jenin.
Four days after the disappearance, the Palestinian Police arrested the suspect who confessed to the crime.
Talal Dwaikat, Jenin Governor, told Gulf News that on Sunday the family of the 18-year-old killer organised a protest in which they urged the Palestinian National Authority to hang their son as a punishment for his horrible crime. The killer’s family also announced their decision in Jenin’s mosques.
“The killer’s family visited me and announced they disown the killer.
The governor said that the victim’s body was recovered and sent to Nablus to undergo an autopsy. “Police investigations are still underway and the results will be announced after the post-mortem report is issued,” he said.
Since Wednesday, the Palestinian security apparatus (with the help of Jenin residents) formed a joint operation room to search for the victim, but all attempts failed.
“In depth investigations fuelled the police suspicions about a suspect who was then arrested,” he said, adding that on Sunday, the suspect admitted the crime and guided police to the remains.
“The murder was a criminal matter only,” said the governor.
A police statement said that the suspect claimed to have tied a rope around the victim’s neck and hanged him to death, rolled the corpse in plastic and buried him near the camel farm.
Rumours circulate Jenin that the victim was raped before he was hanged to death, but the governor has advised residents to wait for the post-mortem report to be released.
