Occupied Ramallah, 5 November 2013 – Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association holds the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the death of Hasan Turabi (22 years old), who suffered from leukemia and died this morning in Afoula Hospital in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). The death of Turabi is the direct result of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) policy of medical negligence which is being practiced against all
Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.
Turabi was arrested on 17 January 2013 from his home in Surra, near Nablus, with the Israeli military prosecution claiming at the time that he was
affiliated with the Islamic Jihad. At the time of his arrest Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) already knew that he suffered from leukemia. While being held at Megiddo prison Turabi suffered from internal bleeding which was caused by bursting blood vessels and he was subsequently transferred to Afoula hospital.
Addameer expresses its utmost concern for the lives of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees, especially those detainees on hunger strike and those who suffer from chronic diseases, who continue to suffer from medical negligence. Since 1967, 52 Palestinian political prisoners have died as a result of medical negligence, with Turabi being the third prisoner to die in 2013 alone.
Turabi’s last statement was published by the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs lawyer, Hiba Maslaha, and stated: “I have been suffering from extreme headaches and abdominal problems for two weeks and I’m often dizzy. I went to the prison’s clinic almost every day but they only gave me pain killers which did not help me at all. Ten days before the incident (burst blood vessels) I threw up a relatively large amount of blood and went to the clinic but I did not receive any treatment. On Tuesday I felt extremely dizzy with strong abdominal pain and headache, then I suddenly started throwing up and I lost consciousness.”
Addameer calls on the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon to immediately form an international committee to investigate the conditions and treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and also investigate the continued systematic torture practiced by the Israeli security services and IPS.
Addameer warns that the international silence and the failure of international bodies working in the oPt, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, sends a message to the Occupying Power that it can continue its brutal practices safe in the knowledge that it will never be held accountable.
Furthermore, Addameer considers the systematic medical negligence practiced by the IPS against Palestinian prisoners and detainees an extreme violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which requires the provision of an adequate clinic and a doctor for the prisoners, as well as transferring ill prisoners that require special treatment to hospital.
Addameer calls on Palestinian human rights organizations to develop a unified Palestinian legal strategy to protect the lives of all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees and to hold the Occupying Power accountable in all possible legal forums.