Um Ahid the mother of prisoner Mutasem Radad is following the news about her son in Israeli jails with great concern. Mutasem has been in Israeli jails for nine years and has been suffering from intestinal cancer for the last eight years.
Mutasem’s body has been extremely vulnerable to this disease and he became no longer able to even take medications due to the medical negligence he is subjected to. One worrying indication is the possibility of being inflicted by another type of cancer.
Second cancer
Ahid Radad Mutasem’s big brother told the PIC reporter “My brother has suffered from stomach and throat pain depriving him of sleeping. Following medical examination it was revealed that there was a severe iron deficiency. The X-RAY revealed that there is a strange object in his belly.”
The weakness of his blood and the existence of this strange object in his belly pointed to probable indication that Mutasem is suffering from blood cancer. Because according to doctors the weakness of his blood can’t be justified in any other way but having a blood cancer.”
He added “We are waiting for other medical examination results but Mutasem has reached the last and toughest stage in his illness. He no longer can take pills because of the pain in his throat. Thus he has to crush tablets to be able to swallow them. He can’t eat or sleep.”
No family visits
While the family is extremely worried about Mutasem’s health condition the Israeli occupation prevents all family members of Mustasem from visiting him including his mother who is in her late 60s.
The mother of Mutasem Um Ahid tells the PIC reporter that she has been prevented from visiting him for the last two years and a half after the Israeli occupation refused to grant her a permit for ‘security reasons’ with the same procedure being applied to all his brothers and sisters without a justification.”
She stresses that the Israeli Prison Service is trying to kill Mutasem slowly by depriving him of proper medication he is in need of. Even family visits which used to leave a positive impact on him were banned except for ‘a security visit’ which takes place once every six months instead of once every two weeks.”
Medical negligence
Amir Radad a second brother for Mutasem told the PIC reporter that the IPS had neglected Mutasem’s illness from the start. For the last eight years we have been demanding to have a special doctor checking on him with our demand being rejected by the prison authorities. The IPS didn’t provide Mutasem with the needed medication. We have been asking for his transfer to a private civil hospital but in vain.”
Amir added “In 2010 Mutasem was supposed to undergo a surgery to remove 70% of his intestines to stop the spread of cancer and to put an end to his pain. He was admitted to the Assaf Harofeh hospital to have the surgery but it was delayed under the claim that the surgery room was busy. It has been delayed since then. We have been waiting for seven years now.”
Amir added that “the illness of Mutasem and the pills he takes which we have no idea about caused many other diseases to him such as weakness in his heart muscle and pulse severe asthma bone weakness damage to his legs’ nerves skin rash back pain and weak immunity.” He notes “These illnesses exposed Mutasem’s stomach to many kinds of medications as he takes 17 types of pills a day with a total of 30 tablets.”
Great patience
The family of Radad told the PIC reporter that it has received a letter two weeks ago from Mutasem through his lawyer stressing that “My spirit is so high and I am stronger than ever thank God despite what I am suffering from of pain in every single minute and every single moment. I have left my illness to God and if God is by my side who would be against me? And if God is against me who would be by my side?”
Mutasem Radad is from the village of Sayda to the north of Tulkarem and he was arrested in 2016 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He has been for the last two years at Ramle prison hospital due to his illness.
The family of Radad has called on official bodies and NGOs and on the top of them the Palestinian presidency the Ministry of Detainees the Red Cross and human rights organizations to work to practice popular and official pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to provide needed medication for Mutasem by allowing a local or an international team of doctors to visit him to have a comprehensive look at his medical profile and to work on improving his imprisonment conditions by transferring him to a more appropriate medical center. His family has called for seriously exerting efforts to release him due to his critical condition.
