Palestinian cancer-stricken prisoner held without charge since 2015 'slowly killed by Israel'

Bassam Sayeh, 46 died in prison where he has been imprisoned since 2015 for his alleged involvement in killing settlers, despite not being convicted.

Sayeh, from Nablus, was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 which spread to his blood with a further leukaemia diagnosis in 2013.

During his imprisonment, he was denied adequate care, which prisoners and health officials say contributed to his deterioration and subsequent death.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh blamed Israel for Sayeh’s death and described it as a “premeditated murder due to medical negligence in the occupation prisons” in a Facebook post.

Saeb Erekat, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) took to Twitter to express his anger.

“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible” for Sayeh’s death and called upon the International Criminal Court to begin an immediate investigation in to his death. “Israeli officials must be held accountable,” he wrote in a tweet.

Palestinian prisoners have started a hunger-strike in solidarity with Sayeh and to protest conditions in Israeli prisons.

Sayeh is the 221^st prisoner to die in Israeli custody from 1967.

At least 700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from serious health conditions, of whom 160 prisoners are in need of urgent medical care.

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