Palestinian prisoner and former long-term hunger striker Thaer Halahleh, held in Eshel prison, appealed on October 27 to be provided appropriate treatment. Halahleh is believed to have become infected with hepatitis in a dental operation at Askelan prison during his earlier imprisonment, conducted with unsterilized equipment.
Halahleh said: “I am not asking for my release. My only demand is to be given the appropriate medicine for my illness,” and he stressed that if his demand is not met he will boycott the prison clinic.
He told a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society that the painkillers he has been given instead of appropriate treatment have only aggravated his illness. He noted that judges have on multiple occasions recommended Halahleh be provided appropriate treatment but it is refused by the prison authorities. “Every time they take me to the hospital, and then I return to the prison without receiving any kind of treatment or undergoing any examination,” the lawyer reported Halahleh saying.
He said that for two days he had refused medicine to force the prison authorities to provide him with the appropriate treatment, but the administration still procrastinates until this moment.
Halahleh, who was released in June 2012 after a 77-day hunger strike conducted with fellow administrative detainee Bilal Diab, was re-arrested in April 2013. Once again he has not been charged; Halahleh has been arrested eight times and served six and one half years in Israeli Occupation prisons. He has never been charged with a crime or tried; at all times he has been held without charges or under administrative detention.
Meanwhile, prisoners at Megiddo Prison told the Palestinian Prisoners Society’s lawyer that the health conditions of a number of sick captives have deteriorated and warned of the increasing numbers of patients in the Israeli jail.
PPS’s lawyer visited a number of sick prisoners, including Salem Kassab from Jenin detained since 2003 and sentenced to 11 years. Kassab suffers from problem in his eyes that has worsened during the years of his detention and caused him to lose sight in his left eye.
The lawyer also visited the prisoner Ahmed Khallouf, from Jenin sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, who is suffering from bone infection.
Khallouf told the lawyer that his suffering exacerbated due to the medical negligence and the harsh conditions in the Gilboa prison.
The captive told Prisoners Society’s lawyer that the painkillers aggravated his illness, noting that the judges have recommended seven times that Halahleh be provided with treatment but the prison administration still refuses that. “Every time they take me to the hospital, and then I return to the prison without receiving any kind of treatment or undergoing any examination.”
He said that for two days he had refused the medicines to force the prison authorities to provide him with the appropriate treatment, but the administration still procrastinates until this moment.
Captive Halahla participated in the prisoners’ open-ended hunger strike last year to protest his administrative detention. He was re-arrested last April.
Meanwhile, prisoners at Megiddo Prison told the Palestinian Prisoners Society’s lawyer that the health conditions of a number of sick captives have deteriorated and warned of the increasing numbers of patients in the Israeli jail.
PPS’s lawyer visited a number of sick prisoners, including Salem Kassab from Jenin detained since 2003 and sentenced to 11 years. Kassab suffers from problem in his eyes that has worsened during the years of his detention and caused him to lose sight in his left eye.
The lawyer also visited the prisoner Ahmed Khallouf, from Jenin sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, who is suffering from bone infection.
Khallouf told the lawyer that his suffering exacerbated due to the medical negligence and the harsh conditions in the Gilboa prison.
