Press release
The International Commission (ICSPR) calls on the international community to open a serious investigation into the circumstances of the martyrdom of the Palestinian prisoner “Kamal Abu Waer” in the Israeli occupation prisons
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) followed with deep concern and condemnation the martyrdom of the Palestinian detainee Kamal Abu Waer (48 years) from the town of Qabatiya south of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, inside Israeli prisons on Tuesday, 10 November 2020.
According to the information published by the Palestinian Society Prisoner’s Club; “Abu Waer” was born in 1974, and suffered from throat cancer by the end of last year, and his health was exacerbated by the harsh detention conditions he was subjected to.
The occupation prisons administration also announced that he had been infected with the Coronavirus last July, after he was transferred from “Gilboa” prison, to one of the occupation hospitals, and he underwent a surgical operation to install a breathing tube for him, and then the occupation prison administration transferred him after a short period, as part of its punishment procedures, to the so-called “Ramla Clinic” prison, to die today in the Israeli hospital “Assaf Harofeh”, shortly after he suffered a new tumor in the larynx.
According to the available data, with the martyrdom of the prisoner “Abu Waer” who was sentenced to six repeated life imprisonment and 50 years more; the number of prisoners who were martyred inside the occupation prisons rises to approximately (226) prisoners and detainees since 1967, as a consequence of the arbitrary policies of the occupation, and as a direct result of the policy of deliberate medical neglect in the occupation prisons, and the long years of isolation, in flagrant violation of the minimum basic principles for the treatment of prisoners adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and 1990, which emphasized the protection of prisoners’ health and medical care for detained persons.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) holds the Israeli occupation authority responsible for the death of the detainee, due to its inaction and deliberate procrastination in saving his life, and its continuing implementation of the slow killing policy against Palestinian prisoners. ICSPR reaffirms once again that the continuation of the policy of torture and medical neglect against prisoners and detainees constitutes a real threat to their lives in prisons, in light of the inability and silence of the international community and its institutions to curb the crimes of the occupation, it affirms and demands the following:
- ICSPR holds the occupation authorities fully responsible for the killing of the prisoner “Kamal Abu Waer,” through its implementation of the policy of isolation and deliberate medical neglect against Palestinian prisoners.
- ICSPR calls on the international community to work hard to form an urgent and impartial international investigation committee to uncover the circumstances of the death, announce its results, and hold the perpetrators accountable. Including obligating the occupation authorities to assume their legal responsibilities towards Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
- ICSPR calls on the Palestinian leadership to refer the file of Israeli violations against prisoners and detainees to the International Criminal Court, and urges it to open an immediate investigation into the grave violations that Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to inside Israeli prisons, including serious work in terms of internationalizing their just cause.
