Amnesty International expresses sadness over the loss of a Palestinian individual and accuses Israel of disregarding human life

A Palestinian man who helped kidnap and murder a 19-year-old Israeli man has died in an Israeli prison, and Amnesty International mourned his death.

The global organization, which claims its mission is to “help fight abuses of human rights worldwide,” “bring torturers to justice,” “[c]hange oppressive laws,” and “free people jailed just for voicing their opinion,” referred to Walid Daqqah, a man who helped brutally torture and murder a young Israeli, simply as a “writer.”

“The death in custody of Walid Daqqa, a 62-year-old Palestinian writer who was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails after 38 years of imprisonment, is a cruel reminder of Israel’s disregard for Palestinians’ right to life,” the organization posted on X.

The death in custody of Walid Daqqa, a 62-year-old Palestinian writer who was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails after 38 years of imprisonment, is a cruel reminder of Israel’s disregard for Palestinians’ right to life ⬇️https://t.co/hSz0gdZgVj

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) April 8, 2024

In its press release on the death, the organization downplayed Daqqah’s crimes, ignoring what happened to 19-year-old Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

Daqqah and three other men kidnapped Tamam to bring him to the Syrian Arab Republic, Israel National News reported. They kept Tamam for two days before deciding to kill him. When his body was found, authorities discovered that Tamam’s eyes had been gouged out and some of his body parts had been cut off, including castration, The Jewish Chronicle reported. This torture was done before Tamam was killed. A gunshot to the head is what killed him.

None of this is mentioned in Amnesty International’s press release.

Instead, the organization accused Israel of human rights violations because Israel didn’t release Daqqah early due to his bone marrow cancer. Daqqah was originally sentenced to life in prison but that sentence was reduced to 37 years, Reuters reported. Daqqah was then discovered to be distributing cell phones to prisoners (Amnesty International claimed it was so they could call their families), and he was sentenced to two more years.

“It is heart-wrenching that Walid Daqqah has died in Israeli custody despite the many calls for his urgent release on humanitarian grounds following his 2022 diagnosis with bone marrow cancer and the fact that he had already completed his original sentence,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, the organization’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns.

“Walid Daqqah’s death is a cruel reminder of Israel’s systematic medical neglect and disregard for Palestinian prisoners’ rights,” Guevara-Rosas added. “For Daqqah and his family, the last six months in particular were an endless nightmare, during which he was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, including beatings and humiliation by the Israeli Prison Service, according to his lawyer. He was not permitted a phone call with his wife since 7 October. His final appeal for parole on humanitarian grounds was rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court, effectively sentencing him to die behind bars.”

The organization also claimed that Daqqah wasn’t provided adequate medical treatment or “suitable food” and wasn’t allowed to say goodbye to his wife or his four-year-old daughter, whom he fathered while in prison. Amnesty provides no evidence for its claims outside of Daqqah’s lawyer.

Amnesty previously had campaigned for Daqqah’s release on the grounds that he only had one or two years to live due to his cancer diagnosis. Levi Meir Clancy, founder of the Jewish organization Foundation of Ours, wrote on The Times of Israel’s blog that Israel’s compassionate release program is typically reserved for those with weeks or months to live.

Amnesty in that press release, published in August 2023, at least condemned the killing of Moshe Tamam, but only on the grounds that it violated the “Geneva Conventions’ absolute prohibition on violence to the life and person of armed forces members who have laid down their arms, including those in captivity.”

But as Clancy wrote, Tamam was not a soldier who surrendered during battle, but was, at the time of his kidnapping, simply on vacation and traveling after visiting his girlfriend.

Daqqah only became a writer and novelist after he was in prison, prompting Amnesty to describe him as “a mentor and educator for generations of young Palestinian prisoners, including children.”

“His writings, which included letters, essays, a celebrated play and a novel for young adults, were an act of resistance against the dehumanization of Palestinian prisoners. ‘Love is my modest and only victory against my jailer,’ he once wrote,” Amnesty said. “Walid Daqqah’s writings behind bars are a testament to a spirit never broken by decades of incarceration and oppression.”

The Jerusalem Post quoted Tamam’s niece, who, along with other members of Tamam’s family, consistently opposed Daqqah’s parole.

“My uncle’s murderer chose his life after inflicting severe torture, and after the murder, he continued to torment my family, engage in terrorism, and torment the entire nation of Israel. We fought hard to prevent his early release, and the fruits of our struggle have ripened,” Dr. Ortal Tamam said in an interview. “My uncle’s murderer died while still in prison, sick and poor. Just like the subhuman he is. This is a victory for my family and for all of Israel.”