• Urgent Action

Urgent Action: RELEASE TERMINALLY ILL PALESTINIAN PRISONER (IOPT: (UA 78.23)

September 5, 2023

Walid Daqqah is a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner who was diagnosed with a rare case of bone marrow cancer. His health condition has been exacerbated by numerous instances of medical neglect in prison. In March, he completed a 37-year sentence for his involvement with an armed group that had abducted and killed an Israeli soldier in 1984. However, in 2018, an Israeli court sentenced him to a further two years in prison, delaying his release until March 2025, a date which he may not live to see. On August 7th, the Israeli District court rejected his petition for early release on medical grounds. The Israeli authorities must immediately release Walid Daqqah on humanitarian grounds and allow him to spend his remaining time with his family.

TAKE ACTION:

  1. Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on October 11th, 2023.
  2. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
  3. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 78.23. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Ambassador Michael Herzog
Embassy of Israel
3514 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 364 5500
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @IsraelinUSA ; @ambherzog
Facebook: @IsraelinUSA
Instagram: @israelinusa

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Ambassador,

I am writing to urge you to exercise your power to commute the sentence of Walid Daqqah, a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner, and to release him immediately on humanitarian grounds. Pending his release, I urge to ensure that he is provided with the adequate and specialised medical treatment to which he is entitled, in accordance with Rule 24 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners, and which the Ayalon prison clinic is, according to expert medical opinion, ill-equipped to provide.

In 2022, Walid Daqqah was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, a rare form of bone marrow cancer, which was exacerbated by numerous instances of medical neglect in prison. According to two separate medical evaluations of Walid Daqqah’s case, he faces a real and imminent danger to his life and his health condition is extremely complicated. According to one of his doctors, “his days are short and there is real danger to his life”.

Walid Daqqah has already completed his original 37-year prison sentence for his involvement with an armed group that ad abducted and killed an Israeli soldier in 1984. However, in 2018, the Beersheba District Court sentenced him to a further two years in prison for trying to get mobile phones into prison. This means that he will not be released before March 2025, a date which he may not live to see, effectively condemning him to die in captivity behind bars. His petitions for early release on medical grounds were rejected. An appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court is the last legal resort available, but time is a luxury that his condition may not allow. Forcing a dying prisoner’s family to engage in a daunting legal and bureaucratic battle is unnecessarily and gratuitously cruel. Walid Daqqah should not spend his little remaining time behind bars, but rather with his family and loved ones.

In light of the imminent danger to his life, I urge you to apply your power to pardon Walid Daqqah on humanitarian grounds and allow his immediate release from prison. Pending his release, I also urge you to ensure thatthe Israeli prison authorities provide Daqqah with his right to the adequate and specialized healthcare that he requires. Walid Daqqah has already spent most of his adult life behind bars and lost his father while in prison. If he has ayear or two to live, let him spend them with his wife Sanaa and their only daughter Milad.

Yours sincerely,

SOURCES