Palestinian prisoner, revolutionary intellectual and writer Walid Daqqah is currently in intensive care in Barzilai Hospital after a surgery to remove part of his lung, a statement by his family, his family reported in a new statement on 12 April. Daqqah, 62, has been imprisoned since 25 March 1986 and has been diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer, myelofibrosis. He was recently highlighted as part of the Pre-Oslo Prisoners campaign as one of the longest-held Palestinians behind occupation bars. He is held in Barzilai medical center now, still a prisoner, after repeated delays in proper treatment for his cancer as well as for a stroke, which led to pneumonia.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our call for Daqqah’s immediate release from Zionist prisons, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners. The policy of long-term medical neglect is a policy of the slow execution of Palestinian detainees, with Walid Daqqah the latest example of this brutal policy.
We are republishing below the statement of the family:
Following new medical examinations during the past two days, the prisoner Walid Daqqah underwent surgery in the lungs and, according to the available information, part of his right lung was removed. He is currently in intensive care at Barzilai Hospital in Asqalan.
This came after the serious deterioration that he suffered since 20 March 2023, as a result of the policy of medical negligenc, carried out for the purpose of deliberately killing him in the occupation prisons. He was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (a rare cancer of the bone marrow) on 18 December 2022, which developed from leukemia that was diagnosed in 2015. Walid needs intensive health treatment for the lungs, kidneys and blood, and he also needs a very sensitive bone marrow transplant procedure (noting that more than one donor is available). This requires a therapeutic environment that is not available at a minimum level, in light of the conditions of his captivity and the strict guarding practiced by the prison administration.
Therefore, we demand:
First: The official Palestinian and Arab political level and local, regional, and international human rights organizations must work for the immediate release of the prisoner Walid Daqqah for him to receive treatment without restriction in a hospital where the necessary conditions are met for the success of the medical procedures he needs, in the presence of his family.
Second: The urgent formation of a medical team from his family, prisoners’ institutions, and human rights organizations to visit Walid, in order to break the medical blackout about his condition.
