PA to hand list of sick prisoners to UN

The Palestinian Authority minister of prisoners will deliver a list of Palestinian prisoners who suffer illnesses in Israel’s custody to the UN Human Rights Committee in Amman, Jordan next Tuesday.  Issa Qaraqe says prisoners with illnesses suffer more and more as years pass. They number about 1,700 of whom 35 are disabled, 30 suffer from psychological illnesses, and 18 from malignant diseases.  The most dangerous cases include 20 who permanently stay at Ramle prison hospital, he added.  Amongst the most serious cases, according to the minister, are Mansour Muqada (nicknamed the "living martyr") who suffers from hemiplegia, and Ratib al-Deek who is 90 percent blind and 80 percent deaf.  Qaraqe highlighted that his ministry had launched an international campaign demanding that Israel release Palestinian prisoners who have illnesses. A list of the most serious cases, he added, has been handed to President Mahmoud Abbas who is exerting significant efforts to get them released.  The minister’s remarks came as he and a delegation of former Palestinian prisoners visited families of detainees Mansour Muqada and Rami Ad-Deek.