TEL AVIV – Hunger was possible the main explanation for dying for a Palestinian teenager who died in an Israeli prison, in response to an Israeli physician who noticed the post-mortem.
Seventeen-year-old Walid Ahmad, who had been held for six months with out being charged, suffered from excessive malnutrition, and likewise confirmed indicators of irritation of the colon and scabies, stated a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who watched the post-mortem, carried out by Israeli specialists, on the request of the boy’s household.
The Related Press obtained a replica of Solomon’s report from the household. It didn’t conclude a explanation for dying, however stated Ahmad was in a state of maximum weight reduction and muscle losing. It additionally famous that Ahmad had complained to the jail of insufficient meals since a minimum of December, citing stories from the jail medical clinic.
Ahmad died final month after collapsing in Megiddo Jail and putting his head, Palestinian officers stated, citing eyewitness accounts from different prisoners. Israel’s jail service stated a crew was appointed to analyze Ahmad’s dying and its findings could be despatched to the licensed authorities.
Ahmad is the youngest Palestinian prisoner to die in an Israeli jail because the begin of the Gaza struggle, in response to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which has documented Palestinian prisoner deaths. He was taken into custody from his residence within the occupied West Financial institution throughout a pre-dawn raid in September for allegedly throwing stones at troopers, his household stated.
The post-mortem was carried out on March 27 at Israel’s Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, which has not launched a report of its findings and didn’t reply to requests for remark. The Ahmad household’s lawyer, Nadia Daqqa, confirmed Solomon, a gastrointestinal surgeon, was granted permission to watch the post-mortem by an Israeli civil court docket.
Widespread abuse in Israeli prisons, rights teams say
Rights teams have documented widespread abuse in Israeli detention facilities holding 1000’s of Palestinians who had been rounded up after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority says Israel is holding the our bodies of 72 Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails, together with 61 who died because the starting of the struggle. Israel usually holds on to our bodies of useless Palestinians, citing safety grounds or for political leverage.
Conditions in Israeli prisons have worsened because the begin of the struggle, former detainees have instructed the AP. They described beatings, extreme overcrowding, inadequate medical care, scabies outbreaks and poor sanitary circumstances.
Megiddo Jail, a most safety facility the place many Palestinian detainees, together with teenagers, are held with out cost, is considered one of many harshest, stated Naji Abbas, head of the Prisoners and Detainees Division at Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
Israel’s jail service stated it operates in response to the legislation and all prisoners are given primary rights.
Ahmad’s lawyer, Firas al-Jabrini, stated Israeli authorities denied his requests to go to his consumer in jail, however three prisoners held there instructed him Ahmad suffered from extreme diarrhea, vomiting, complications and dizziness earlier than he died. They suspected it was attributable to soiled water, in addition to cheese and yogurt jail guards introduced within the morning and that sat out all day whereas detainees had been fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the lawyer stated.
Malnourished and frail
Based on Dr. Solomon’s report the post-mortem confirmed that Ahmed possible suffered from irritation of the big gut, a situation often called colitis that may trigger frequent diarrhea and might in some instances contribute to dying.
However medical specialists stated colitis normally doesn’t trigger dying in younger sufferers and was possible exacerbated by extreme malnutrition.
“He suffered from hunger that led to extreme malnutrition and together with untreated colitis that prompted dehydration and electrolyte ranges disturbances in his blood which might trigger coronary heart price abnormalities and dying,” stated Dr. Lina Qasem Hassan, the top of the board for Physicians for Human Rights Israel who reviewed the report on the request of the AP.
She stated the findings indicated medical neglect, exacerbated by Ahmad’s lack of ability to combat illness or an infection due to how malnourished and frail he was.
Dr. Arne Stray-Pedersen, a professor of forensic medication on the College of Oslo in Norway who was not concerned within the post-mortem, stated the report suggests there was a interval of extended malnutrition and illness lasting a minimum of a couple of weeks or months. “Based mostly on the report, I interpret the underlying explanation for dying to be emaciation-wasting,” he stated.
Scabies rashes had been additionally famous on his legs and genital space, the report stated. There was additionally air between his lungs that expanded into his neck and again, it stated, which might trigger an infection. Air can come from small tears within the lungs, which might happen from extreme vomiting or coughing, it stated.
Ahmad’s household stated he was a wholesome excessive schooler who loved enjoying soccer earlier than he was taken into custody. His father, Khalid Ahmad, stated his son sat by way of 4 temporary court docket hearings by videoconference, and he observed at certainly one of them, in February, that his son gave the impression to be ill.
The household hasn’t but obtained a dying certificates from Israel, the elder Ahmad stated Friday, and are hoping Dr. Solomon’s report will assist convey his son’s physique residence.
“We are going to demand our son’s physique for burial,” he stated “What is going on in Israeli prisons is an actual tragedy, as there isn’t any worth for all times.”
____
AP reporter Jalal Bwaitel contributed from Ramallah, West Financial institution.
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
