The human rights organization Amnesty International has called on Israel to return the body of Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqah, who died on Sunday, April 7, in the Israeli custody.
62-year-old Daqqah died due to the deterioration of his health as a result of cancer after 38 years spent in Israeli prisons.
He is survived by his wife, Sanaa Salameh, and 4-year-old daughter Milad, who was conceived using Daqqa’s smuggled sperm after Israeli authorities denied him conjugal visits.
Daqqah’s health deteriorated since March 2023 due to severe pneumonia, kidney failure, and myelofibrosis cancer, affecting bone marrow.
In November 2023, the Israeli Supreme Court refused to release Daqqah despite the deterioration of his health condition and instead set his release date for 2025.
“It is heart-wrenching that Walid Daqqah has died in Israeli custody despite the many calls for his urgent release on humanitarian grounds following his 2022 diagnosis with bone marrow cancer and the fact that he had already completed his original sentence,” AI Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns Erika Guevara-Rosas, said in a statement.
“Israeli authorities must now return Walid Daqqah’s body to his family without delay so that they could give him a peaceful and dignified burial and allow them to mourn his death without intimidation,” she said.
She stated that Walid’s death is a harsh reminder of the systematic medical negligence practiced by Israel and its disregard for the rights of Palestinian prisoners.
“Even on his deathbed, Israeli authorities continued to display chilling levels of cruelty against Walid Daqqah and his family, not only denying him adequate medical treatment and suitable food, but also preventing him from saying a final goodbye to his wife Sanaa Salameh and their four-year-old daughter Milad.”
The lawyer who visited Daqqah in Ramla prison clinic on March 24, told Amnesty International that his significant weight loss and fragility, highlighting the violation of international standards and potential torture of detainees.
Maariv reports that the Israeli police have refused to hand over the body of the Daqqah, fearing potential provocations.
Daqqah was a writer, analyst, and thinker. He has published several books, most notably “The Melting of Consciousness,” “Parallel Time,” and the novel “The Story of the Secret of Oil,” which won local and Arab awards.
