EGYPTIAN DEATH SENTENCE ‘BADGE OF HONOUR’, SAYS PALESTINIAN PRISONER

Cairo, 1 Shaban 1436/19 May 2015 (MINA) – A Palestinian prisoner being held by Israel for the past 20 years has declared the sentence of death handed to him by an Egyptian court to be a “badge of honour”.

Hassan Salama was sentenced by Egypt for allegedly breaking into Wadi Al-Natroon Prison in Egypt during the 25 January 2011 Revolution, along with other three Palestinians, two of whom were killed a few years before the alleged offence; the third was killed in Palestine during Israel’s offensive last year.

“I consider the Egyptian death sentence against me to be a badge of honour on my chest,” Salama wrote in a letter leaked from his cell. “This sentence was a grant from Egypt to a Palestinian prisoner marking 20 years inside Israeli jails. It is an appreciation for him and his family.”

He added his thanks to “beloved” Egypt for its “generosity”. Egypt, he said, is more merciful than the “Israeli enemy”, which refused to sentence him to death 20 years ago. Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The [Israeli] military court was recommended not to sentence me to death, in the belief that we do not care about death,” added Salama. “In doing so, it decided that I have to experience death every single day while spending my life between four walls.”

Mocking the death sentence, he noted that after 20 years, it came to palliate his suffering and accelerate his death. “This is the best thing to do for me.”

Concluding his letter, Salama reiterated that he does not fear death and such a sentence does not affect him. “I have much hope that Allah would help me and I have enough trust that Al-Qassam Brigades, who beat occupation and freed prisoners, will liberate me.” (T/P002/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)