An Israeli court in Ramla postponed today a hearing into cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa’s eligibility to appear before the Early Release Committee, provided that the court judge issues his decision within a week of its date, Daqqa’s family have said. Daqqa completed his 37-year sentence on 24 March 2023, but he is still arbitrarily detained after two years were added to his sentence in 2018 on the pretext of his attempt to help the prisoners contact their families. Daqqa is a Palestinian writer and activist who has been imprisoned by Israel since 1986 for his resistance of the Israeli occupation. In December 2022, he was diagnosed with advanced bone marrow cancer, and was declared in urgent need of a transplant, but has not yet had a transplant. On May 22, Daqqa was transferred to the intensive care unit at the Assaf Harofeh hospital south of Tel Aviv due to further health complications. But three days later, Israeli authorities transferred him back to the Ramleh prison’s clinic in Israel, which is notorious for its difficult conditions, despite calls by rights groups to keep him hospitalized for constant monitoring and treatment if he is not released. His imprisonment also violates the 1993 Oslo Accords, which had a clause for the release of all Palestinian prisoners detained prior to the signing of the agreement.
Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA