The last words of Sami Abu Diak, a Palestinian prisoner in Israel who lost his battle with cancer yesterday morning, was the first thing I woke up to. His last letter, widely circulated on social media, reads:

“To all people of conscience, I live my last days and hours, and I want to spend them with my mother and beloved family. I want to die in my mother’s arms. I don’t want to leave life with my hands and legs handcuffed in front of jailers who love death and delight in our pain and suffering. Will these words find ears by officials? I tell you, if I die away from my mother, I will not forgive you.”

It is too frightening to think that a Palestinian’s wish in an Israeli prison, to die in his mother’s arms was out of reach. All Abu Diak wished for was to have his shackles removed and to be allowed to spend his last days in his mother’s arms, a wish Israel prevented him from realizing when his request for compassionate release was not approved in time (local press reported his next hearing date was Dec. 2), even as he was counting his last days after he was told his battle with cancer would be coming to a tragic end soon.

Abu Diak was 36 years old. He died of cancer and suffered from renal and pulmonary failure. He was from Silat Aldahir village near Jenin. He was convicted of killing three Israelis in 2002 and was sentenced to three life sentences, of which he served 17 years. His brother Samer Abu Diak is also serving a life sentence.

Abu Diyak is not the first Palestinian prisoner to die while incarcerated in Israel. The Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer noted in a statement, “With Abu Diyak’s death, the number of prisoners who died in prison is (222) prisoners since 1967 including 67 prisoners who died because of medical negligence. Five out of those prisoners died in 2019.”