Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: wiki commons.

According to the Associated Press, a senior PA official has been pronounced dead after falling from a third floor kitchen window in a Palestinian security compound in the West Bank, where he was being interrogated. Although the PA and security video footage confirm that Osama Akel Hassan Mansour had jumped, members of Mansour’s family including his wife told Ma’an News agency that they believe he was killed.

Mansour was a special investigator who supposedly tracked Palestinians’ selling of land to Israelis, which is considered a crime to the PA. According to Abdel Latif al-Aidi, an official involved in the investigation of the death, Mansour was arrested on “corruption” charges about three weeks ago, and suspicion that Mansour himself may have sold land to Israelis.

After showering in the compound, Mansour, who was not handcuffed or accompanied by a guard, said that he was thirsty and went to  the kitchen for a glass of water.

“He went to the kitchen, opened the window and jumped,” al-Aidi reported, adding that a security camera captured the footage, and the video capturing the fall would be released to the public.

Palestinians convicted of selling land to Israelis face the death penalty from the PA judiciary.