On Friday, 10 February, Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Badr Abu Ali, 48, from Yatta, al-Khalil, lost his life inside the occupation’s Naqab desert prison, once again linked directly to the policy of medical neglect, delay and mistreatment to which the Palestinian prisoners are subjected to on an ongoing and systematic basis.
Abu Ali was transferred to Soroka Hospital in the dawn hours of 10 February after a serious deterioration in his health condition, with some reports indicating that he suffered a heart attack or stroke, and his transfer to the hospital was significantly delayed. He has been detained since 2012 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. A married father of nine children, his parents both died while he was held behind bars, and he was denied the ability to attend their funerals or bid them farewell.
Abu Ali is one of a number of severely or chronically ill prisoners in the occupation prisons, suffering from many health problems. He underwent a heart catheterization surgery last year after ongoing delays from the prison administration. His health condition worsened since 2022 and he was discovered to have an irregular heartbeat and highly symptomatic diabetes.
There are over 600 ill prisoners in the occupation prisons, including 60 with severe disease of various types and 24 suffering from cancer.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the martyred prisoner Ahmad Abu Ali and extends our condolences to his family and the Palestinian people on this latest crime of the Zionist occupation. He is the 235th Palestinian prisoner whose life has been taken inside the occupation prisons, including at least 75 due to the ongoing policy of medical neglect, negligence and abuse.
We further demand the immediate release of the martyred prisoner’s body, noting that multiple Palestinian prisoners and martyrs continue to be imprisoned after death in the morgues of the occupation, as a form of collective punishment targeting the families and communities of the prisoners and the entire Palestinian people.
We further emphasize the full responsibility of the occupation and its backers, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, the British government and European governments, for the ongoing and systematic crimes against the Palestinian prisoners, including the policy of slow killing and medical neglect, part and parcel of the ongoing Nakba targeting the Palestinian people.
In support of the prisoners’ movement and the resistance in Palestine, Samidoun Network and the Alternative Palestinian Revolutionary Path Movement organized a demonstration in Berlin on Saturday 04.02.2023 along the “Sonnenallee”, or as it’s locally known “the Arabs Street”. The demonstration took place after occupation forces had stormed several sections in different prisons, and transferred many prisoners at random, prevented visits, and placed a large number of prisoners in solitary confinement. Zionist forces also stormed the rooms of the female prisoners in “Damon Prison” and assaulted them with beatings and tear gas. Palestinian prisoners in various prisons responded by declaring a state of alert, which was followed by negotiations with the prison administration, in which the prisoners movement secured victory and the administration retracted its escalatory measures.
