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Palestinian 'assassinated by Mossad' in Sweden, says Fatah

Mohammed Tahsin al-Bazam died from his injuries after being shot at home following dispute with Jewish neighbour
Exterior of the Palestinian Mission in Sweden (Screengrab)

Israel's intelligence agency Mossad assassinated a Palestinian man in southern Sweden on Saturday, according to Fatah sources in Gaza. 

Mohammed Tahsin al-Bazam, a former resident of the Gaza Strip, was murdered by an unknown assailant, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.  

He was shot dead in his apartment at close range and left to die in the small town of Limmared.

His father, Tahsin al-Bazam, claimed that he was murdered as a result of a domestic dispute with a Jewish neighbour.

Swedish police released a statement on Sunday about the incident and said: "Reports said several people wearing masks entered the apartment through a balcony and shot the man inside. They disappeared after the shooting as quickly as they arrived."

The Fatah movement's arm in Gaza released a statement where it accused Mossad of assassinating Bazam. 

A number of Palestinian websites picked up Fatah's statement and claimed that Bazam was a former prisoner held by the Israelis. 

But the Palestinian Prisoners' Club told Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz that they had no record of Bazam's name, and said that the claim needed to be confirmed. 

The Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Authority head Issa Qaraqe said that Bazam was not a released prisoner. 

In an interview with a Palestinian news agency, Bazam's father said his son worked in marketing and was not involved in any political activities.

Bazam died from his injuries in a medical centre in Gothenburg after he was flown there from a local hospital where he was initially taken. 

The Palestinian foreign ministry sources said its embassy in Sweden is following the police investigation and awaiting further news.

Bazam's father, who is an imam in Sweden, claimed that two men had murdered his son. He said that Bazam had complained about his Jewish neighbour who held parties that involved drugs and alcohol. He believed that this was why his son was murdered. 

“It could be that an argument developed that ended in murder, or that it was a murder in a racist context because they identified him as a Palestinian Arab and a Muslim,” alleged the father.

Bazam joins a long list of Palestinians whose deaths have been attributed to assassinations by Mossad. 

Other notable assassinations of Palestinians associated with Mossad include senior Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh, who was blown up in Damascus in 2008, and Hassan al-Laqqis, head of Hezbollah’s technological apparatus, who was killed in Beirut in 2013.

Israel neither confirms nor denies any of its alleged overseas assassinations.