“It is painful for Walid Daqqa to die in an Israeli prison, despite many calls for his urgent release on humanitarian grounds after he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2022 and the end of his original sentence,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
She added, “The Israeli authorities must now return Walid Daqqa's body to his family without delay so that they can bury him in a peaceful and decent atmosphere and allow them to mourn him without fear.”
A spokesman for the Israeli Prison Service has not yet responded to requests for comment. The Prison Service had previously said that all its prisoners were being held “in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
The organization said that an Israeli court sentenced Daqqa to life imprisonment in 1987 after convicting him of leading a group that kidnapped and killed Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam, which Daqqa denied.
The human rights organization said that his conviction was based on emergency laws in Britain, which have a lower level of proof requirements compared to Israeli criminal law.
Daqqa (62 years old) died and left behind his daughter Milad (four years old) and his wife Sana Salama, who said that she became pregnant using Daqqa’s sperm after the Israeli authorities prevented them from conjugal visits.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club Association said that Daqqa was scheduled to be released last year after completing a 37-year prison sentence, but a court ruling extended his imprisonment for an additional two years on charges of providing other prisoners with mobile phones.
She added that Daqqa is the fourteenth Palestinian political prisoner to die in Israeli prisons during the past six months as a result of Israeli practices that include torture and medical negligence.
After news of his death emerged yesterday, Sunday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir expressed his regret on social media that he did not face the death penalty. Today, Ben Gvir praised the police for demolishing a funeral tent erected in Daqqa’s hometown.
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