The Prisoners’ Club said that the occupation prison administration transferred the prisoner, Muhammad al-Khatib, 40, from Tulkarem, to Soroka Hospital, this morning, Thursday, after an additional deterioration in his health condition.
The club stated, in a statement issued by it, that the prisoner, Al-Khatib, suffers from chronic and severe back problems, which caused him great difficulty in movement, in addition to health symptoms that resulted from the amount of narcotic painkillers he received over the past period, and more than a month ago, his condition began. Health is rapidly deteriorating.
Prisoners’ Club indicated that the transfer of prisoner Al-Khatib came late, and after several months of claims from him, and from the competent authorities that had to go to the courts in order to transfer him for medical examinations only, in light of the emergence of new health symptoms indicating that additional health problems he began to suffer from.
The Prisoners’ Club confirmed that the prisoner, Al-Khatib, was subjected to the crime of medical negligence (slow killing), over a period of about two years, and procrastination was the most prominent tool in that, in addition to that the court, in its decision related to his case, relied on the prison administration’s account.
Over the past period, prisoner Al-Khatib carried out protests that amounted to his refusal to enter the police station only to provide him with a wheelchair so that he could meet his needs.
It is noteworthy that Al-Khatib has been detained since 2003, and has been sentenced to 21 years in prison. He is supposed to be released at the beginning of next year.