Israel military court releases sick Palestinian detainee

An Israeli military court has released sick Palestinian detainee Waleed Sharaf, following which he was transferred to hospital.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, the 23-year-old from Abu Dis, occupied East Jerusalem, was arrested in June 2018 and subjected to administrative detention – in which prisoners are detained without charge or trial – for a period of six months.

In December 2018, Sharaf’s sentence was renewed for another month and then for another five months in January – at the same time as his health condition deteriorated.

According to Physicians for Human Rights, Sharaf has been “suffering from serious damage in his liver as a result of not receiving the necessary treatment”.

Addameer noted that during a visit on 30 January, Sharaf had still not been diagnosed and “it was clear that there was medical negligence by the occupation authorities”.

Addameer affirmed that it holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for “Waleed Sharaf’s medical condition and life”, adding that Israel’s “continuous and systematic policy of medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners constitutes a severe violation to their basic human rights, guaranteed under international humanitarian law and international human rights law”.

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