Despite being classified among prisoners whose medical condition is the worst in Israeli jails prisoner Mansour Mouqada refuses to give up to his Israeli jailers despite the tragic saga of events he has been living since he was arrested 15 years ago.
His brother Nimir tells the PIC reporter “when our family asks him about his ability to smile and laugh during family visits in prison he says it is his duty to always challenge the jailers by his smile despite his unbearable pain.”
Nimir underlined that his brother’s condition is unbearable while the “image of Mansour in people’s minds is of him sitting on a wheelchair inside the prison’s walls which hides under it much suffering.”
He added “Prior to his arrest Mansour didn’t suffer from any illness. He was arrested following a manhunt which lasted for years. Before he was arrested he engaged in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers. During his arrest in the village of Siniria in Salfit his body received five bullets. One of these five bullets ended up in his spinal cord pelvic and belly. It made him suffer from Hemiplegia. Parts of his stomach and intestines were damaged and half of them became plastic-made. His belly looks like a ball due to this.”
Nimir describes the situation of his brother as saying “No one could imagine that someone in my brother’s situation would have been in jail for the last 15 years. The Israeli occupation authorities refuse his early release. If he would be released he would spend a long time in hospital before going home as he is in desperate need for medication.”
He stresses that the suffering of Mansour is multi-layered. In addition to providing him with the needed medication on daily basis a follow up by doctors is equally needed.
Tough stages
The family of prisoner Mouqada speaks to the PIC reporter of tough stages during his imprisonment as his father passed away due to a car accident two years after he was arrested.
“During that time communication with prisoners was not that easy. It took the family months to gradually deliver the news of Mansour’s father’s death to him by first telling him that he was injured then the family told him he passed away. This made him go into coma for 22 days.”
Mansour was shocked again when he realized that his mother has not visited him for two years after she lost her memory due to the hardships she has gone through during her life such as his own arrest and her husband’s death. He started asking his family to bring his mother to him to see her in the next visitation. They told him that in case she comes she would not recognize him because she no longer recognizes anyone.
Mansour’s brother stressed that his mother’s loss of memory was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Mansour as he started saying “I receive bad news one after another.”
No family visitation
The wife of Mansour speaks of another form of suffering he is subjected to. He has been deprived of seeing his own son Raid 21 for the last three years. Every time he reaches the prison’s gates the Israeli authorities send him back. The situation is the same for Mansour’s bigger brother who has also been deprived of seeing Mansour since he was arrested.
The same goes to his brother Nimir who is allowed to visit Mansour once a year. Mansour’s two daughters got married while he is in jail. Add to this the Israeli humiliating measures by searching family members during family visits to prisons and the continuing banning of some family members from visiting him for ‘security reasons.’
The family and siblings of Mansour stress that the level of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners is below expectation and this leaves a negative impact on the families of prisoners and makes them feel sad.
The family concluded by saying “We have sick prisoners in jails whose condition is really bad. They are experiencing agonizing pain. Silence is no longer acceptable.”
