"Israel" Released Sick Palestinian Prisoner, Mohammad Taj

Local Editor

"Israel" released Thursday sick Palestinian prisoner Mohammed al-Taj Thursday due to his seriously deteriorating health, undersecretary of the Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Ministry Ziad Abu Ein said.
The "Israeli" prison service informed Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh that Taj, serving a 15-year sentence since 2003, is to be released and sent immediately to the Ramallah Medical Complex.

Taj is suffering from pulmonary failure. "He suffers from pulmonary fibrosis and heart hypertrophy. Pulmonary fibrosis can be treated by a lung transplant, but that is a difficult and uncertain surgery," said Health Ministry undersecretary Anan al-Masri.

Ramallah Governor Layla Ghannam visited al-Taj in hospital and called on the international community to intervene to end the suffering of all sick Palestinian prisoners.
"All free people of the world should intervene to end the suffering of Palestinian prisoners held in Ramle cemeteries," Ghannam said.
"I am in front of a giant of defiance whose spirits were not shaken by the wardens' arrogance. Our prisoner is like his name, a crown on the head of each Palestinian," she added.

"Israel" has come under fire from Palestinian protesters and the Palestinian Authority for mistreating sick Palestinian prisoners. Earlier this month, Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh was martyred from esophageal cancer in an "Israeli" jail after years of gross neglect at the hands of "Israeli" authorities, official doctors found.
Abu Hamdiyeh was 11 years into his 99-year sentence, a term he received in 2002 for taking part in the Second Intifada.

He was the second Palestinian to die in "Israeli" custody within two months, following the death of Arafat Jaradat.

Jaradat died late February, a week after being arrested by Israeli forces. While initial reports said that he had succumbed to cardiac arrest in the "Israeli" prison of Megiddo, an autopsy carried out by a Palestinian doctor showed that Jaradat was tortured.

Over 200 Palestinians have died in "Israeli" prisons. Included in this number are Palestinians with serious illnesses who, if treated, can survive. Yet "Israel" only offers medical assistance in the form of painkillers, leaving Palestinians like Abu Hamdiyeh with no possibility of recovery.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org