Social media users launched an online campaign to demand the urgent release of the Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqah, following a sharp deterioration in his health condition.
Palestinians and supporters took to social media to demand Daqqah’s release under the hashtag #Free_Walid_Daqqah.
This comes amid condemnations of the Israeli occupation, and its policy of negligence and deliberate killing towards sick prisoners in its prisons.
61-year-old Walid Daqqah was diagnosed with spinal cancer in December 2022, along with other serious ailments, which left him Paralyzed.
“Despite his extremely difficult health condition … the court session to review conditional early release for the purpose of treatment has been postponed to May 31,” Walid Daqqah’s wife said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Walid Daqqa may lose his life at any moment. His health is in grave danger. He cannot walk and cannot talk properly. He also cannot breathe normally – he is on a respirator,” Ihtiram Ghazawneh from Addameer Palestinian prisoners’ rights group told Al Jazeera.
Palestinian Prisoners Club held the prison administration fully responsible for the life of prisoner Walid Daqqah.
The club accused the Israeli authorities of medical negligence that leads to slow killing, due to their deliberate procrastination and long delay in transferring him to the hospital.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Palestine announced that the Israeli government bears full responsibility for the life of the prisoner, Walid Daqqah.
The ministry called on the relevant international and international bodies to follow up on the issue of sick prisoners in general and the case of Walid Daqqah in particular.
It appealed to the International Red Cross for urgent intervention to save his life, as he suffers from spinal cord cancer.
On Tuesday, Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, made a statement on his official Twitter account, describing Daqqah as a deceiver and he should die in prison.
Who is Walid Daqqah?
Daqqah hails from the Palestinian village of Baqa al-Gharbiya inside Israel, and is one of the most prominent thinkers and writers in the Palestinian prisoner movement. He has a master’s degree in political science and wrote several books while in prison.
He was imprisoned by Israel in 1986 for his involvement in the killing of an Israeli soldier and was sentenced to 37 years in prison, which he completed in March 2023, but Israeli authorities extended his sentence by two years in 2017 on charges of cell phone smuggling. in prison.
The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons is 4,800, including 170 children and 29 female prisoners, according to data from the Prisoners’ Club.
