RAMALLAH, Tuesday, July 16, 2019 (WAFA) – Nassar Majed Taqatqa, 31, who has been held in solitary confinement in the Israeli prison of Nitzan in the city of Ramleh, central Israel, was declared dead today, according to Qadri Abu Bakr, head of the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.

He told WAFA that the Israeli forces detained Taqatqa about a month ago after raiding his family home in the town of Beit Fajjar, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, and moved him to the Israeli prison of al-Jalameh for interrogation, after which he was put in solitary confinement in Nitzan prison, where he passed away.

Jawad Thawabteh, member of the Fatah movement in Bethlehem, told WAFA that the Israeli forces brought Taqatqa handcuffed to his family house about two weeks ago to search it and that he was severely beaten before taking him back to prison.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society said Taqatqa was detained on June 19, which was his first arrest, and was held in detention and was still undergoing interrogation when he was declared dead for reasons that are still unknown.

It quoted his family saying that he did not have any medical or health issues.

K.T./M.K.