“The Israeli authorities must release terminally ill Palestinian prisoner Walid Dhaka so he can receive specialized medical care and spend the rest of his life with his family,” Amnesty International said today. Daqqah) suffers from chronic lung disease and bone marrow cancer, and Ayalon’s Israeli prison clinic lacks the means to treat him. After Waleed Dhaka was diagnosed with cancer last year, the Israel Penal Institutions Authority (IPS) refused to transfer him to a civilian hospital, thereby denying him a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant.
“The case of Waleed Dhaka illustrates the brutality of the Israeli justice system against the Palestinian people, including the seriously ill and dying. Waleed’s health has already deteriorated due to medical neglect by the Israel Correctional Institutions Authority: Earlier this year When he suffered a stroke, Israel Correctional Services refused to transfer him to an appropriate hospital for 11 days, a delay that led to potential complications. Waleed Dhaka now faces an agonizing death in prison prospects,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The case of Waleed Dhaka illustrates the brutality of the Israeli justice system against the Palestinian people, including the seriously ill and dying.
Heba Morayef, Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa
“Denying prisoners access to adequate medical care violates international standards for the treatment of prisoners and may amount to torture. Israeli authorities must release Waleed Dhaka as soon as possible on humanitarian grounds and ensure he receives much-needed medical attention.”
Walid Daqqah was sentenced to 37 years in prison, to be served in March 2023, for his involvement in an armed group that kidnapped and killed an Israeli soldier in 1984. However, in 2018 he was charged with attempting to smuggle mobile phones for other Palestinian prisoners, for which he will not be released until March 2025…by which time he may not return alive.
On 26 June 2023, the Special Parole Board rejected Waleed Dhaka’s request for early release due to illness. On August 7, 2023, the Lourdes District Court rejected Walid’s appeal against the decision of the Parole Board.
Amnesty International 2022 report apartheid The allegations against Palestinians have exposed how Israel’s military justice system systematically discriminates against Palestinians and denies them their right to a fair trial and due process.
medical negligence
In 2022, Walid Daqqah was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare cancer of the bone marrow. In addition, he suffers from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). After a stroke in February, Walid Daqah suffered multiple complications, including pneumonia and kidney failure, and had to have most of his right lung removed due to delays in IPS transporting him to emergency care.
Amnesty International reviewed the medical assessment of Walid Daqah’s case by Israeli hematologist Moshe Gatt, who was consulted by Israel Physicians for Human Rights in January 2023 ( Moshe Gatt). Although Walid’s condition has deteriorated, Amnesty International continues to ignore Dr Gatt’s advice that he should receive medical treatment. Relocate to a clean and hygienic environment.
Waleed Dhaka’s wife, Sana Salameh, told Amnesty International that her husband had suffered “systematic” medical neglect and long periods of imprisonment.
Amnesty International also saw a medical assessment by IPS medical director Dmitry Klotzky, who said Waleed’s prognosis was “very poor” and he would require assistance with all daily activities.
Palestinian human rights groups like Adamer have long documented Israel’s policy of medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 have also expressed concern about the way sick Palestinian prisoners are being treated in Israeli prisons.
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners states that “prisoners shall enjoy the same standard of health care as the outside community and shall have free access to necessary medical services without discrimination on the basis of their legal status”.
punitive solitary confinement
Walid Daqqah, Israeli Palestinian citizen, arrested in March 1986. A year later, a military court found him guilty of commanding a group linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which kidnapped and killed Israeli soldier Moses Tamam in 1984. Waleed was convicted of murder, not murder, but ordering other members of the group to kill the soldier. Waleed Dhaka claims he was tortured and subjected to other ill-treatment during interrogation. He received a life sentence, which was commuted to 37 years in 2012 and is due to serve in March 2023.
Amnesty International condemns the murder of Moses Tamam as it violates the absolute prohibition of violence against the life and person of members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, including captives, under the Geneva Conventions.
While in prison, Waleed Dhaka wrote numerous articles on the impact of incarceration on Palestinian society, a young adult novel and many letters describing life in prison, one of which has been adapted into a play. After Waleed’s novel was published, the IPS placed him in punitive solitary confinement.
Authorities have repeatedly denied Waleed and his wife Sana’s conjugal visitation requests. All Palestinians classified as “security prisoners” are denied this right, a category often granted to Israeli Jewish prisoners as well. In 2019, Waleed and Sana conceived their daughter by smuggling sperm from prison, and gave birth to daughter Milad in 2020. After the baby girl was born, Waleed was held in solitary confinement and was not allowed to see her for the first 18 years. several months.
Waleed Dhaka’s family plans to appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court, but as they told Amnesty International, “time is a luxury we do not have”.
Based on the medical assessments we reviewed, Waleed Dhaka’s prognosis is one to two years; keeping him incarcerated until 2025 is cruel and unnecessary.
Heba Molayev
“Waleed Dhaka and his family should not be in legal trouble at such a painful time. According to the medical assessment we reviewed, Waleed Dhaka’s prognosis is one to two years; Cruel and unnecessary,” concludes Heba Morayef.
“We call on the Israeli authorities to release Waleed Dhaka, end the systematic denial of adequate medical care to Palestinians in prison, and ensure they respect all international standards regarding the treatment of prisoners.”