PPS: HEALTH OF YOUNG PALESTINIAN PRISONER DETERIORATING

Image: IBNA — **Israel refused to release the sick prisoner Jaafar Awad, despite his serious health deterioration.** (Photo: IBNA)

Hebron, 13 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/4 January 2015 (MINA) – The health condition of Palestinian prisoner Jaafar Awad (23), is deteriorating, a rights group said Saturday (3/1).

Awad’s family told the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society after a visit that Awad could not speak, as he suffers from a severe lung infection, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The young man’s health deteriorated during his time in Israeli jails, PPS said. Two weeks ago he was moved from al-Ramla clinic to Assaf Harofeh hospital.

He was later transferred back to al-Ramla clinic, where he is currently being held.

Ibrahim Awad, the prisoner’s father, told PPS, “I was shocked by my son’s health condition when I saw him; we could only use eye contact to communicate with him.”

“This has been the most difficult visit for us as a family,” Awad said.

He said he had been given a one-month permit to visit his son, but that the permit was canceled after the most recent visit.

An Israeli military court last Tuesday postponed a session concerning Awad’s release, the PPS statement said. The session is now scheduled to be held on Sunday.

Awad is from Beit Ummar in northern Hebron. He has spent a total of three years in Israeli jails.

Around 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, more than 2,000 of whom were arrested by Israeli forces last summer amid heavy tensions and violence in the West Bank and Gaza. (T/P006/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)