RAMALLAH: An elderly Palestinian prisoner serving a twenty one and a half year term died in an Israeli prison, Israeli sources said.
The Israeli Ynet news service said that the 50-year-old prisoner collapsed and died at the Sharon Prison. Ynet added that the man had been in jail since 1989 for illegal residency, indecent acts, robbery and assault.
According to the report, a team of Israeli wardens attended to the prisoner, but the Magen David Adom (Israeli medical service) emergency crew dispatched to the jail was forced to proclaim him dead. The Israel Prison Service launched an investigation into the incident.
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees said in a recent report that around 1,300 of around 10,000 Palestinians in detention are suffering from severe medical problems for which Israeli Prison Service refuses to provide treatment. Around 194 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 due to torture or medical negligence.
According to the ministry, their conditions of detention are extremely poor, and in some cases, life-threatening. The majority of these detainees are being held in violation of the IV Geneva Convention in prisons outside of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The statement added that Israel continues to practice torture and other forms of mistreatment against Palestinian detainees.
