PA blames Israel for death of female prisoner

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh is holding Israeli authorities fully responsible for the death of a Palestinian female security prisoner in Damun Prison.

The detainee, Sa’adiah Farajallah Matar, was arrested last December after carrying out a stabbing attack near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

The Israel Prison Service said the 64-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of causing serious bodily harm and carrying and manufacturing knives and daggers.

The woman, who is chronically ill, was regularly treated by IPS medical personnel. She was released from the hospital this week and returned to prison.

On Saturday morning, she needed medical attention in the ward. A medic who examined her called an intensive care unit. The medical staff performed resuscitation efforts on her, but her death was determined on the spot, the IPS reported.

As with the death of any prisoner, the circumstances of the incident would be investigated, it said.

Shtayyeh called on international human rights organizations to launch an investigation into the circumstances of Matar’s death and to put pressure on Israel to release all female and male prisoners, especially the sick and minors.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Matar, a resident of the town of Idna near Hebron, lost consciousness in the morning and was transferred to the clinic of Damun Prison, where she died.

The group said that a court session was held last Tuesday for Matar, the oldest woman in an Israeli prison, who appeared in court in a wheelchair. Her lawyer requested that she be examined by a specialist physician after medical checkups showed that she suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

Qadri Abu Baker, chairman of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, also held the Israeli authorities responsible for her death, which “comes in the context of the racist crimes against our male and female prisoners,” he said.

Several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the PLO’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the death of the detainee as a “crime” and said that Israel would pay a heavy price. They claimed that Matar died as a result of “medical negligence.”