16 October 2018
Walid Dakka, a Palestinian author who is serving 33 years in an Israeli prison, has been warned by prison officials he would face severe punishment if he publishes a book he wrote while serving his sentence.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) explained that Dakka, who is serving a sentence for his role in resisting the Israeli occupation, was facing new threats for his work Tuesday.
Dakka was previously punished for publishing a book in Arabic called, “The Story of the Secret of Oil.” Officials have threatened to place him in solitary confinement if the book is published.
Authorities have also barred Dakka’s family from visiting him for two months, confiscated all his books and writings and fined him 500 Israeli shekels or US$135. He was previously transferred between prisons as a form of punishment for another book.
According to a PPS attorney who visited the author in prison, officials are upset Dakka was able to write the book while in prison due in part to their failure to monitor him.
PPS director Qaddoura Faris has condemned the actions taken against Dakka and said Israel was waging a war against him for his writing. Dakka is serving one of the longest sentences given to a Palestinian by Israeli authorities. He was arrested in 1986 and sentenced to 39 years in prison at the time.
Dareen Tatour another author imprisoned by Israeli forces for writing resistance poetry on social media. She was imprisoned for a month and a half and released in late September. Tatour was sentenced to five months in prison on Jul. 31, 2018, by a court in Nazareth.
