Palestinian Detainee Dies in Israeli Prison

The Palestinian Authority’s Prisoners Affairs Commission said in a statement that Sami Abu Diyak, 37, from the northern West Bank town of Silat ad-Dhahr, had died in the Israeli Asaf Harofeh hospital on Tuesday morning as a result of “the policy of deliberate and systematic clinical killings by the (Israel) Prison Services.” 

The commission said a state of alert has been declared in Israeli jails amid fears of protests over Abu Diyak’s death.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) described Abu Diyak as “the newest victim of Israel’s reprehensible policy of medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners.”

According to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, Abu Diyak’s death brings to 222 the total number of Palestinian prisoners who have died as a result of medical negligence since 1967.

Prior to the prisoner’s death, his family and the Palestinian Authority had demanded his release, but Israeli officials had denied the request.

The Palestinians had also reached out to European countries and the Red Cross to put pressure on Israel to secure Abu Diyak’s release.

He was detained in July 2002 and sentenced to triple life terms plus 30 years, of which he had spent 17 years behind bars before his death.

Abu Diyak was diagnosed with an intestinal cancer in September 2015. His condition began to deteriorate due to medical errors by the Israeli Soroka hospital, where he underwent a surgery and part of his large intestine was removed.