Asia

Home page

Asia

Palestinians hold Israel accountable for prisoner's death

05 November 2013 23:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Palestinians on Tuesday held Israel accountable for the death of a Palestinian prisoner, who suffered from leukemia, saying the prisoner died due to negligence of his medical conditions, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Eassa Qaraqea, the Palestinian minister of prisoners' affairs, told Xinhua that Hassan Turabi, 22, died of Leukemia at an Israeli hospital, adding that he died 10 months after he was arrested and sent to administrative detention. Turabi was taken to an Israeli hospital in mid-October.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called for an international query panel to immediately question the Palestinian prisoners' position in Israeli jails. It said Israeli prisons must be put under the observation of the panel in case of violating the prisoners' rights.

The PLO warned that there are dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who suffer from chronic diseases and need urgent and better medical treatment. Currently, Israel is holding more than 4,500 prisoners in its jails.

Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, accused Israel of leaving Rurabi sick for several months in prison, adding in a press statement "when they knew that he was dying, they took him to a hospital to die there instead of releasing him. "

Qadoura Fraes, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoner's Club Association, said in a statement that the death of Turabi "is a serious indication that the prisoners, mainly the sick ones, are severely suffering in Israeli jails."

Meanwhile, the Israeli Prisons Services said in a statement that Turabi died after fighting leukemia, adding that he suffered from leukemia since 2004, long time before he was arrested, and that he was receiving medical treatment for seven years.

"When Turabi was arrested, he already suffered from leukemia and the prison services put him under a special medical care. When our doctors tested samples of his blood, they found out that his health conditions were stable," said the prison services statement.

Following his death, Palestinian advocates and lawyers from the Palestinian ministry of prisoners' affairs decided to boycott dealing with Israeli courts in protest of the death of Turabi.

"The Israeli prison services are not cooperating with the Palestinian attorneys and lawyers, and neglect their demands when the latter officially appeal for treating prisoners, who suffer from various chronic diseases and need special medical care," said the ministry.

Palestinian lawyers, who work for various Palestinian rights groups, also announced on Tuesday that they decided to appeal to international human rights organizations to immediately intervene and rescue dozens of prisoners, who suffer from various diseases.

Jawad Immawi, director of the legal department in the ministry of prisoners' affairs, said that Palestinian prisoners in various prisons announced that they are going on a hunger strike for one day in protest of the death of Turabi.

In Gaza, dozens of Palestinians demonstrated in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in protest of Turabi's death. Turabi is the third Palestinian prisoner who dies in prison since the beginning of this year.