Palestinian prisoner Rajab al-Tahhan saw his hospitalized son, Majd al-Tahhan, 19, suffering from severe leukemia in Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in the early hours of Monday, 30 October. He was given only 30 minutes with his son after being brought from the prison at 5:00 am, shackled and under heavy security guard.
Tahhan has not seen his son for three years, before he developed his illness. Originally released from Israeli prison in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, he was rounded up with over 60 other released prisoners in an arbitrary detention by Israeli occupation forces in 2014 in an attempt to pressure the Palestinian resistance. Since that time, along with dozens of others, his original life sentence was reimposed by a secret military committee on the basis of Israel’s military order 1651. All evidence is secret and any allegations are frequently those of association with members of prohibited organizations, which include all major Palestinian political parties.
When Tahhan saw his son, he initially did not recognize him due to his son’s weight loss and other changes to his appearance due to illness. They soon hugged each other even as the father remained shackled. Security forces surrounded the two during their entire meeting time and all other family members were excluded from the area.
The Tahhan family said that the section where their son is hospitalized was closed during the visit. “The feelings evoked by the visit cannot be expressed in words; crying and sadness covered with happiness and joy, for only 30 minutes.”
The visit was obtained after multiple legal filings by Palestinian lawyers representing Tahhan.
