UN, Israel return the body of writer Walid Daqqa

(ANSA) – ROME, APRIL 12 – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is asking the Israeli authorities to release the body of the Palestinian writer Walid Daqqa, who died in prison after 38 years of detention on 7 April, aged 62. Member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, convicted in 1986 of planning the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli soldier, of which he has always declared himself innocent, Daqqa obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in democratic studies in prison from the Open University of Israel in 2012, a concurrent degree in area studies from Al-Quds University in 2016, and a doctorate in philosophy from Tel Aviv University. He then wrote several books in which he shared his thoughts on the political fate of his people and on captivity. In 2022 he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer but the Israeli authorities rejected his request for early release so he could receive treatment. “The writer Daqqa is the fourteenth Palestinian to die in an Israeli prison since October 7” declares the High Commissioner for Human Rights which urges the Israeli authorities to release his body so that “he can be given a dignified burial”. “The bodies of all those who die in detention – it adds – should be returned to their families in line with international standards”. (HANDLE).