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Israel releases Palestinian cancer patient held without charge for 22 months

May 21, 2024 at 3:35 pm

51-year-old Abdel Baset Ma’tan was released in May 2024 after being held in administrative detention by Israeli occupation forces for 22 months. Abdel Baset has been diagnosed with cancer and lost a of weight in detention as a result of the Israeli policy of starvation used against Palestinians

The Israeli occupation authorities released the Palestinian detainee and cancer patient Abdel Baset Ma’tan from prison on Monday evening. Ma’tan, 50, from the town of Burqa near Ramallah, has spent 22 months in administrative detention with neither charge nor trial.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), Ma’tan was released from Negev Prison, where most stories of torture and abuse against Palestinian prisoners are said to originate.

The PPS added that he was subjected to criminal practices during his time in detention, including medical negligence as well as a starvation policy that caused Ma’tan to lose a lot of weight. He has bruises all over his body, having suffered revenge attacks by his captors since the beginning of the Israeli offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip last October.

The society pointed out that Ma’tan has been subjected, along with thousands of other Palestinian prisoners, to brutal assaults by Israeli occupation forces despite the fact that he has been suffering from colon cancer. He was denied the minimum treatment required, it added.

Ma’tan has spent more than 10 years in Israeli prisons altogether. Only one of his arrests was based on a tangible charge, whereas the rest relied on the system of administrative detention, whereby a person can be detained indefinitely without charge or trial.

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