Updated: The Palestinian Detainees Committee has confirmed that the autopsy results in the death of Nassar Taqatqa, 31, from Beit Fajjar town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, revealed that he died due to abuse by Israeli interrogators and soldiers, and added that he suffered severe Pneumonia without treatment.
The Committee held Israel fully responsible for his death, especially by failing and refusing to send him to a hospital when his skin started showing signs of disease, and his body became very weak.
It added that Taqatqa was left alone in his prison cell, suffering from Pneumonia, and from exhaustion due to constant interrogation.
The Committee also said that the corpse of the detainee showed signs of torture, with clear marks on his skin, especially from metal cuffs and shackles on his arms and legs.
In addition, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) also stated that Taqatqa was constantly tortured during interrogation in Majeddo Israeli prison.
The PPS added that that the torture, and being denied the urgently needed medical attention, have led to serious fatal complications.
Taqatqa was abducted on June 19th, 2019, after the soldiers invaded his home in Beit Fajjar town, and was transferred to the al-Maskobiyya interrogation facility in occupied Jerusalem.
The detainee was later transferred to the al-Jalama interrogation facility, where he was interrogated and tortured again, and started suffering from serious complications due to physical and psychological abuse.
In addition, sworn testimonies provided by Palestinian detainees who saw Taqatqa, said that he was forced into solitary confinement in Majeddo prison, where he was once again tortured and restrained in a bed.
On July 11th, the administration in Majeddo refused to remove him from solitary confinement, and place him with other detainees, under the pretext of him being punished.
On July 14th, he was moved to an Israeli hospital in al-Ramla due to serious deterioration in his health, and on July 16th, Israel announced his death in a solitary confinement cell in Nitzan (al-Ramla) prison.
Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said the detainee is not the first to be tortured, especially to death, and added that most imprisoned Palestinians are tortured and subjected to very difficult conditions, in addition to being deprived the right to proper medical attention, in direct violation of International Law, and all related agreements and treaties.
Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, a Palestinian Researcher, a former political prisoner specialized in detainee’s affairs, and the head of the Studies and Documentation Unit at the Palestinian Detainees Committee, said the number of detainees, who died in Israeli prisons due to torture, lack of medical treatment and diseases they contracted in prison, since the year 1967, has arrived to 220.
Ferwana added that, in addition to the 220 detainees, dozens died shortly after their release from Israeli prisons, due to impacts of torture, bad conditions and diseases they contracted while imprisoned.
He called for immediate international intervention to secure the legitimate rights of the detainees, and to put an end to the ongoing Israeli violations against them.
On April 27, 2019, Omar ‘Awni Abdul-Karim Younis, 20, died from serious wounds he suffered a week earlier, after Israeli soldiers shot him at a military roadblock in northern West Bank.
On February 6, 2019, Fares Mohammad Baroud, 51, died in an Israeli prison from being denied the required specialized medical attention. He was from Gaza and was abducted in 1991.
Ferwana stated that the first Palestinian detainee to die was Ahmad Mohammad Noweiri, from the Nusseirat refugee camp in Gaza; he died on June 8th, 1967, after the soldiers shot him, along with Khalil Kamel Siyam, who died instantly after being shot, in addition to Zaki Hashem Siyam.
On January 4 1968, detainee Yousef al-Jabali died due to extreme torture in an Israeli prison in Nablus city, in northern West Bank, and on April 28 1968, another detainee, identified as Khalil Salama Rashayda, from Bethlehem, died due to torture and the lack of medical treatment.
Ferwana also said that one of the most gruesome causes of death of Palestinian detainees was the case of Qassem Ahmad Ja’bari, who was killed in 1969 when the soldiers threw him out of a military helicopter after abducting him.
