Palestinian languishing in Israeli administrative detention 'needs urgent cancer treatment'

A Palestinian suffering from cancer remains in Israeli administrative detention despite medics saying he requires urgent treatment, a detainee advocacy group said on Monday.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club (PPC) said 48-year-old Abdul Baset Mutan has colon cancer and his condition is continually getting worse.

The father-of-four was handed a six-month administrative detention sentence in July, having been released from an earlier six-month administrative order only three months earlier.

Mutan's detention was initially cut by two months on medical grounds, but was later restored to the full six-month sentence after it was appealed by the prosecutor.

Israeli medical negligence is slowly killing Palestinian detainees, largely those who are sick, the PPC said.

It called for Mutan to be released immediately so he can seek medical care.

He has been imprisoned by Israel for nine years altogether, mainly under administrative detention.

Administrative detainees have neither been charged with a crime nor granted a trial, and they and their lawyers are prevented from seeing the evidence against them.

The detention orders typically last between three to six months and can be renewed indefinitely.

The practice has been criticised by human rights organisations, who consider it a breach of due process.

A Palestinian detainee had his administrative detention renewed by Israel in defiance of a military court ruling that he should be freed, a prisoners' advocacy group said 👇#FreeThemAllhttps://t.co/2SgBKZuydU

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 25, 2022

"In violation of the restrictions placed by international law, Israel makes routine, extensive use of administrative detention," leading Israeli rights group B'Tselem said in April.

Amnesty International said administrative detention "may be lawful in certain circumstances" in a February report that found Israel was engaged in a system of apartheid against Palestinians.

However, the rights watchdog added: "Israel's systematic use of it against Palestinians indicates that it is used to persecute Palestinians, rather than as an extraordinary and selective security measure."

While Israeli settlers living illegally in the occupied West Bank are tried under civilian law, Palestinians there are subject to a controversial Israeli military legal system.