Tied Palestinian man found dead in Belgium

The body, tied by its hands and feet, was discovered in a city park in Antwerp

A Palestinian man has been found dead in a park in the heart of the Belgian port city of Antwerp. The body was tied by its hands and feet, while the authorities are still unable to determine the cause of death.

The body was originally found by a passerby lying by an old WWII-era military bunker in a city park last Wednesday. The deceased had been in the park for at least 24 hours before being discovered, according to the Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office.

It took the authorities two days to establish that the man, who had no identity papers on him, was a 26-year-old Palestinian refugee. He had no residency permit but was seeking asylum in the country. He was not known to police prior to his death and had no criminal record.

The autopsy has not yielded a conclusive result and investigators remain open to any theories, ranging from a murder to a particularly elaborate suicide.

“The autopsy did not clarify the cause of death, so all leads remain open,” the Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson, Kristof Aerts, told local media on Friday.

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The mysterious incident has prompted wild speculation online, with some even suggesting the deceased might have been lynched for some unknown reason. The authorities, however, have urged against spreading such theories, calling on the public to wait for the results of the official investigation.

“I understand that there are a lot of wild stories going around on social media... a judicial investigation has started, with the investigating judge, public prosecutor, lab, forensic doctor and investigators on site,” Aerts told The Brussels Times on Wednesday.

Thus far, the authorities have provided no further update on the affair.