Palestinian bus driver found hanged in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian bus driver was found hanged in his vehicle in west Jerusalem overnight, in what Israeli police said was an apparent suicide but a colleague said looked like murder.

A police statement on Monday said that the driver, whom it did not identify, was a resident of AlTur, on the Mount of Olives in annexed east Jerusalem.

His death comes after months oftensioninArabeastJerusalem following the kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, with police in the city on high alert for violence on either side.

The driver’s body was found by his supervisor hanging inside his vehicle in a bus depot in Har Hotzvim, an industrial zone in north Jerusalem, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

“According to an initial investigation, it appears there is no suspicion of criminal activity, in other words a suicide,” she said in a statement, which said there were “no signs of violence on the body.”

ButfellowbusdriverMuatasem Fakeh said he had seen evidence to the contrary.

“We saw signs of violence on his body,” he told AFP.

“He was hanged over the steps at the back of the bus in a place where it would be impossible to hang yourself alone,” he added.

Police said the body had been sent to Abu Kabir forensic institute for a post-mortem in coordination with his family. — AFP