Jordanian prisoner in Israel in need of medical attention — activist

AMMAN — A Jordanian prisoner in Israel, who suffers from a rare disease, is in bad health, an activist said Saturday.

Mohammad Rimawi, who is being held at Rimon jail in Israel, has been diagnosed with Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), Shireen Nafe, a member of the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa, told The Jordan Times.

“Rimawi has been suffering from this disease for four years and is unable to move his right arm and suffers a lack of balance,” Nafe added.

FMF is an inflammatory disorder that causes recurrent fevers and painful inflammation of the abdomen, lungs and joints. 

It is an inherited disorder that usually occurs in people of Mediterranean origin — including Sephardic Jews, Arabs, Italians, Armenians and Turks, according to the Mayo Clinic's website.

There is no cure for this disorder, which is typically diagnosed during childhood, according to the website.

Rimawi’s wife, who lives in the West Bank, recently tried to visit him after obtaining a permit through the International Committee of the Red Cross, but Israeli forces did not allow her to see him and tore up the permit, according to Nafe.

Rimawi has been serving a life sentence since 2001 after being convicted of taking part in the assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001.

Despite his deteriorating health conditions, Rimawi joined other prisoners in Israeli jails in observing a hunger strike for 100 days in 2013 demanding better visitation arrangements.

“There are currently 24 Jordanian prisoners in Israel after the release of Ayman Adam a few weeks ago, while prisoner Mohammad Tahir is expected to be released on September 21,” Nafe said.

She added that families of Jordanian prisoners in Israel have called on the Foreign Ministry to arrange visits to their detained relatives, in addition to providing health services to them.

The Jordanian embassy in Tel Aviv is "intensively following up on the condition of Jordanian prisoners in Israel", Basel Tarawneh, the government coordinator on human rights, said in remarks to The Jordan Times on Thursday.

He said the Foreign Ministry is working on organising a visit for the family of Jordanian teenager Mohammad Mahdi Saleh who is serving a prison term in Israel.

The 17-year-old was arrested on March 3, 2013 in the West Bank for alleged involvement in clashes with Israeli occupation forces and is being held at Megiddo prison.