Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to release Sami Abu Diak, who is suffering from cancer, in line with the demand of the Detainees Affairs Commission.
Erekat sent official letters in this regard to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, OIC Secretary-General Youssef Al-Othaimeen and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The Palestinian official briefed the world officials on the deteriorating health situation that Abu Diak was undergoing due to the policy of deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prisons administration towards Palestinian prisoners.
He stressed that all these arbitrary measures were violations of international norms and conventions, especially the international law and international humanitarian law, which have provided for the right to medical treatment and care, the provision of appropriate medicine and periodic medical examinations to sick prisoners.
Such practices also contravene Article 8 (b-10) of the Rome Statute and the Nelson Mandela Rules for Health Care Services approved by the United Nations General Assembly.
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi described attacks on Palestinian prisoners as “organized barbarity.”
In a statement, Ashrawi condemned the vicious attack on Palestinian prisoners in general, and the prisoners of Ofer jail in particular, who face the “Israeli war machine and oppressive and criminal repression.”
Earlier this week, Israeli police raided Ofer sections using dogs and attacked the prisoners with tear gas causing over 100 cases of injuries. Detainees said Israel used rubber-coated metal bullets, gas, stun grenades, batons and sniffer dogs.
“The injury of approximately 150 prisoners in the Ofer detention camp and the burning of 3 rooms in full… reflect barbarism in Israel’s behavior and practices,” Ashrawi stated.
