Starvation was likely the leading cause of death for a Palestinian teenager who died in an Israeli prison, according to a doctor who observed the autopsy, The Associated Press reports.
Walid Ahmad, 17, who had been held for six months without being charged, suffered from extreme malnutrition and showed signs of inflammation of the colon and scabies, said a report by Daniel Solomon, who watched the autopsy, conducted by Israeli experts at the request of the boy’s family.
The AP obtained a copy of Solomon’s report from the family. It did not conclude a cause of death but said Ahmad was in a state of extreme weight loss and muscle wasting. It also noted that Ahmad had complained to the prison of inadequate food since at least December, citing reports from the prison medical clinic.
Ahmad died last month after collapsing in Megiddo Prison and striking his head, Palestinian officials said, citing witness accounts from other prisoners. Israel’s prison service said a team was appointed to investigate the death and its findings would be sent to the authorities.
Ahmad is the youngest Palestinian to die in an Israeli prison since the start of the Gaza invasion, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which has documented Palestinian prisoner deaths. He was taken into custody from his home in the occupied West Bank during a predawn raid in September for allegedly throwing stones at soldiers, his family said.
The autopsy was conducted on March 27 at Israel’s Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, which has not released a report of its findings and did not respond to requests for comment. The Ahmad family’s lawyer, Nadia Daqqa, confirmed Solomon, a surgeon, was granted permission by an Israeli civil court to observe the autopsy.
