Ref: 81/2007
Date: 02 August 2007
Time: 08:30 GMT
Palestinian Prisoner Dies in the Israeli Prison in Nafha
On 31 July 2007, the prisoner Shadi Sa’id El-Sa’ayda (27) from El-Maghazi refugee camp died in Soroka hospital in Beersheva. PCHR is concerned that the death is the result of medical negligence by the Israeli prison authority.
The prisoner’s father informed PCHR’s fieldworker that the family learned of their son’s death in Soroka hospital from Ma’an news agency. They called the Minister of Prisoners Affairs in Ramallah, Ashraf El-Ajrami, who confirmed the news. The father stated that the Minister informed them that the cause of death was severe pneumonia as indicated by the Israeli side. The Minister added that the ministry will attempt to hire an international physician to conduct an autopsy and determine the cause of death. The father stated that he and his wife visited their son in prison last February and March, and that he wasn’t suffering from any illnesses.
It is noted that El-Sa’ayda worked in the Palestinian police in the West Bank. He was detained on 30 July 2005 in the village of Kufr Akar in the West Bank. An Israeli military court charged him with participating in the Ein Oreik operation conducted by Palestinian resistance in 2002 that resulted in the death of 6 Israeli soldiers. On 15 July, he was sentenced to 8 terms of life imprisonment, and was held in a solitary confinement cell in Nafha prison inside Israel.
PCHR holds the Israeli government responsible for El-Sa’ayda’s death, and for the lives and well-being of all prisoners facing the same circumstances due to the policy of willful medical negligence stemming from inhumane holding conditions, physical and psychological torture, and inadequate heath care. The Centre also:
Calls for an immediate and impartial inquiry into the death of El-Sa’ayda.
Calls upon the ICRC to increase its activities in monitoring the conditions of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Calls upon the international community to pressure Israel to respect International Humanitarian Law, especially the 4th Geneva Convention, and to respect minimal ideal standards in treating prisoners.
