News / Palestine / Editor's Choice

Ailing Palestinian political prisoner dies of Israeli medical negligence

Sunday, 08 September 2019 5:41 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 08 September 2019 5:54 PM ]

The file photo shows Palestinian political inmate Bassam al-Sayeh

An ailing Palestinian political inmate has died in an Israeli medical center after prison authorities denied him medical aid, the Palestinian Information Center has reported.

The deceased prisoner, identified as 47-year-old Bassam al-Sayeh, died on Sunday in the Israeli Assaf Harofeh medical center.

Despite his deteriorating health condition, Israel's prison authorities had rejected numerous calls for the release of Sayeh, who was suffering from bone and blood cancer.

The deceased Palestinian had been receiving chemotherapy by incompetent physicians and lost his life due to pulmonary edema, cirrhosis and cardiac failure.

A resident of the West Bank city of Nablus, Sayeh was arrested by Israeli forces in October 2015.

Palestinian prisoners had threatened to cause chaos in the prison in case of Sayeh's death.

A Palestinian official said in May 2018 that at least seven Palestinians had lost their lives in Israeli prisons and detention centers since 2017, noting that the jails had turned into a place where the inmates were doomed to death and faced arbitrary and repressive measures.

PressTV-‘7 Palestinians died in Israeli jails since 2017’

A Palestinian official says at least seven Palestinian inmates have lost their lives in Israeli jails since 2017.

The head of the Palestinian Authority’s Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said in a statement that Palestinian prisoners need international protection, demanding concrete measures to bring the Tel Aviv regime before the International Criminal Court.

His statement came after a Palestinian prisoner died of health complications he developed in Israeli jails in January 2018.