Israel: court rejects petition to release body of Palestinian prisoner

An Israeli court rejected a petition to release the body of Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa yesterday. The authorities in the occupation state have been holding Daqqa’s remains since he died from cancer in prison in April.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a joint statement that Daqqa, from Baqa Al-Gharbiya in the territories occupied in 1948, died after 38 years of detention. “The court’s decision was not surprising, in light of the unprecedented brutality and crimes committed by the occupation regime… setting a dangerous precedent.”

The organisations pointed out that, “During his 38 years of detention, Daqqa was subjected to long-lasting crimes and systematic thefts, most notably the medical crimes committed against him over the years, and which led to his martyrdom.”

They noted the role of “the occupation Supreme Court in the issues of the Palestinian people, which contributes to establishing the ongoing historical injustice against them, through its racist judicial decisions.”

The occupation state is the only state in the world where official policy sees the authorities systematically detaining the bodies of martyrs and using them as tools to achieve political goals. “Israel continues to detain the bodies of 34 Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died in its prisons and camps since 1967. That’s the number whose identities are known.”

Dozens of Gaza detainees have died in the occupation’s prisons and camps, and the occupation state refuses to disclose their identities. “It continues to detain their bodies, and they are part of the hundreds of martyrs detained in the Cemeteries of Numbers and refrigerators.”

The Cemeteries of Numbers are simple graves surrounded by stones without headstones. A metal plate bearing a number, not the name of the deceased, is fixed above each grave, and each number has a special file kept by the Israeli security authorities. According to data from the NGO National Campaign for Retrieval of the Bodies of Martyrs, the number held by Israel is 552 as of 28 August.

An estimated 9,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are held by Israel, including 98 women and no less than 250 children, as of early last month. This does not include detainees from the Gaza Strip about whom Israel is withholding information.

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