Palestinian prisoner Rajab al-Tahhan’s petition to visit his son, Majd, who is in the Hadassah hospital with severe leukemia, was continued until Sunday, 29 October, on the grounds of presenting a report by the Shin Bet intelligence agency.
Tahhan is held in Nafha prison; he has been separated from his son for most of Majd’s 19 years of life. Tahhan was accused of killing an Israeli occupation settler in 1998, when Majd was four months old, and was imprisoned until 2011, when he was released as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. After spending only two years and eight months with his son and family, he was among over 60 Palestinians seized by the Israeli occupation in 2014 as part of an organized pressure campaign against the Palestinian resistance. Most of these prisoners have had their original sentences reimposed by a secretive military committee on the basis of secret evidence and allegations of “association” with members of prohibited organizations, which include all major Palestinian political parties.
Palestinian resistance organizations and political movements have demanded the immediate release of all of the re-arrested prisoners.
His family spoke to Al-Jazeera:
“This is not about politics […] It is an issue of depriving a son from his father. What is being asked of anyone with a conscience is to realise that there is a son in need of his father,” a close relative of Majd and Rajab, told Al Jazeera from Jerusalem.
“We’re not even asking for Rajab to be released because we know they won’t release him. We just want the son to see his father – even for just 30 minutes,” he said, adding they would be content with transporting Majd with an ambulance to the prison.
“Majd has bone marrow failure and he is not stable. He has no immunity – any germ or virus that enters his body can end his life at any moment.”
