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Shawamreh
developed muscular dystrophy during his 19 years in Israeli jails
[Photo courtesy: Palestinian Prisoners Centre for Studies]
Rights groups blame Shawamreh's death on Israeli prison 'medical negligence' during his time in jail.
A
former Palestinian prisoner, who developed muscular dystrophy while
carrying out his sentence in Israeli jails, has died from the condition
three years after he was released.
Rights groups say his death was the result of Israeli medical negligence in prison.
Naim
Shawamreh, 46, died while hospitalised on Tuesday at the al-Ahli
medical centre in the town of Dura, on the suburbs of the city of
Hebron.
He
was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 along with two other men for
allegedly planting an explosive device and killing an Israeli
explosives expert, charges that his family say are false.
Shawamreh
was released in 2013 after serving nearly 19 years in prison, following
peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, in which 26
Palestinians who had served between 19 and 28 years in prison were
freed.
"As
he was being released, the authorities told him 'You are already dead,"
Shawamreh's brother, Nabil, told Al Jazeera, explaining that
Shawamreh's health had severely deteriorated by the time he was
released.
"We
took him to Germany, to Jordan, and we even submitted our papers to go
to the United States to get him further treatment, but nothing worked."
The reason why Shawamreh developed the disease in prison remains unclear.
'Medical Negligence'
Jerusalem-based
prisoner rights group Addameer, whose lawyers regularly visited
Shawamreh, says that because of the lack of healthcare, such cases in
which prisoners die following their release from jail are common.
"Naim
died as a result of the deliberate medical negligence in Israeli
prisons. He would not have got to this point if he had been taken care
of," Muhammad el-Azza, a lawyer at Addameer, told Al Jazeera.
"In
general, there is an attitude in Israeli jails of disregard for all
prisoners, and on all levels - whether from an Israeli dentist or
physicians that deal with chronic diseases. They are deliberately slow
in giving the prisoners treatment. Often it takes the prison services
months or even years to get a patient to surgery."
Azza
added that prisoners are treated very poorly at Ramle hospital, run by
the Israeli Prison Service, in which Shawamreh was being held.
"They
are chained from their arms and legs on the beds. The room remains shut
all the time, and those who need assistance - such as someone to help
them get up or move around - are ignored."
According
to the Hebron-based Palestinian Prisoner's Study Centre, there are
about 280 Palestinian prisoners who have died in prison, or shortly
after their release.
"Today,
the case of Naim Shawamreh sheds light on the cases of hundreds of
other sick prisoners in Israeli jails," said Osama Shaheen, the centre's
director.
There
are 1,200 prisoners that are currently sick inside the prisons.
Twenty-one of those are in very critical condition and are being treated
at Ramle hospital, according to Shaheen.
"We
ask the world to pay attention to our prisoners as they get sicker and
sicker in Israeli jails, and we pray that all our prisoners are
released," Nabil told Al Jazeera.
"They are suffering."
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