November 26, 2019: Sami Abu Diak, 37, died at an Israeli hospital after he was systematically denied specialized medical care, leading to serious complications that resulted in his death.
The Palestinian Detainees’ Committee confirmed, on Tuesday morning, that a detainee identified as Sami Abu Diak, 37, was only moved to Assaf Harofeh Israeli Medical Center after a sharp decline in his health.
It also said that its lawyers filed several appeals with Israeli courts, asking to allow his release to receive specialized medical treatment in Palestine, or abroad, but its requested were all denied.
“Sami was subjected to a deliberate policy denying him the right to adequate medical care,” the committee said, “Despite the serious decline in his health, and the constant complications, he was not provided with the urgently needed specialized care, and was only moved to a hospital when he neared death.”
It is worth mentioning that Sami Abu Diak, 37, was serving three life terms and an additional 30 years in prison.
He was taken prisoner on July 17, 2002, and was first diagnosed with intestinal cancer in August of 2015, and underwent surgery, after the prison authority moved him to Soroka Medical Center, but due to a misdiagnosis and a medical error, he faced serious complications, and some of his intestines were removed.
Abu Diak underwent various surgeries, and suffered further complications, including pulmonary and renal failures, in addition to cancer and skin poisoning, and his condition continued to deteriorate since then.
Before his death, Abu Diak’s final message was:
To those with a living conscience…
I am living my final hours and days, there is nothing I would like more than spending them near my mother; between my loved ones, I would love to utter my last breath in my mother’s arms; I do not wish to die cuffed and shackled,
I do not want to die in front of a jailor who loves death, and feeds on our pain and suffering,
Will my words even reach the ears and minds of leaders?!
I am telling you, if I die far away from my mother, I will never forgive you…
Detainee Sami Abu Diak
Sami was from Sielet ath-Thaher town, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Source: IMEMC