Palestinian Prisoner Martyrs 1967–1987 | Full List of Those Killed in Occupation Prisons

In the first twenty years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, between the June 1967 war and the outbreak of the First Intifada in December 1987, the Zionist occupation threw thousands of Palestinians into prison and turned its interrogation cellars into slaughterhouses. The list of martyrs of the prisoner movement records 73 martyrs in this period: 39 died under torture, 15 were killed after arrest, and 18 died of medical neglect, 3 of them during hunger strikes. ^[1][2][3]

This article is part of Palestinuna’s series on “The martyrs of the prisoner movement” and includes a table of all the martyrs of this period, as listed by the WAFA national information centre and the researcher Abdel Naser Farwana.

Contents

1. In numbers
2. Killed right after arrest
3. The interrogation cellars
4. Medical neglect and the battles of empty stomachs
5. Arab martyrs in the occupation’s prisons
6. The full list
7. Between the accounts
8. Timeline
9. Frequently asked questions about prisoner martyrs 1967–1987

In numbers

^[1][2]

Killed right after arrest

The list of martyrs began in the first days of the occupation: on 8 June 1967 occupation soldiers killed Ahmad al-Nuweiri, Khalil Siam and Zaki Siam of Nuseirat camp right after arresting them. The pattern repeated in the camps of the Gaza Strip in the years that followed: on a single day, 30 March 1970, three men from Jabalia – Ahmad Abu Diya, Yusuf Asaliya and Ahmad Afana – were killed as they were arrested. ^[1]

On 27 May 1969 occupation soldiers threw Qasem al-Jaabari of Hebron from an aircraft after arresting him, and in October 1969 they shot dead the Lebanese Muhammad Khreizat of Aitaroun two days after capturing him. ^[1]

On 13 April 1984 Jamal Qablan and Muhammad Abu Jame’ of Khan Younis were killed after being captured alive, in what is known as the “Bus 300” affair. ^[1]

The interrogation cellars

Torture was the leading cause of prisoners’ deaths in this period. The first to die under it was Yusuf al-Jabali, in Nablus prison on 4 January 1968. The martyrs fell across interrogation centres and prisons: Sarafand, al-Moscobiya in Jerusalem, the prisons of Gaza, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and Tulkarm, and Ashkelon prison, where 11 died. ^[1][2]

Death did not always come inside the cell: Jamil Barakat of Rafah in 1975 and Salama al-Hassouni of Sa’ir in 1981 died days after their release, from the effects of torture. ^[1]

Medical neglect and the battles of empty stomachs

In 1970 Abd al-Qader Abu al-Fahm of Jabalia died in the Ashkelon prison hunger strike, the prisoner movement’s first hunger-strike martyr. In July 1980 Rasem Halawa and Ali al-Jaafari died in the Nafha prison strike, followed by Anis Dawla of Qalqilya in Ashkelon in August of the same year. ^[4][1]

The martyrs of medical neglect include Ajjaj Alawneh of Jaba, whose treatment for a brain haemorrhage was delayed in Jenin prison in 1976; Salim Abu Sbeih of Hebron, a prisoner since 1970, who died in Junaid prison in 1982; and Ishaq al-Maragha of Silwan, in Beersheba prison in 1983. ^[1][5]

Arab martyrs in the occupation’s prisons

The martyrs were not only Palestinians. Arab prisoners also died in the occupation’s prisons in this period: the Syrian Omar Shalabi of Aleppo under torture in Ashkelon in 1973, the Jordanian Nassar al-Huweitat in 1977, the Syrian Nasser al-Heib in 1978, the Iraqi Salah Abbas in Ashkelon in 1981, the Lebanese Muhammad Khreizat, and Hasan al-Sawarka of al-Arish. The Greek Mikhail Papa Lazaro also died, in the Ramla prison hospital in 1983. ^[1][2]

The full list

The table lists the martyrs of the prisoner movement between 1967 and 1987 in order of date of martyrdom (day/month/year), as given in Abdel Naser Farwana’s list and checked against the WAFA information centre’s list. ^[1][2]

Between the accounts

Abd al-Qader Abu al-Fahm: sources differ on the date of his martyrdom in 1970: 11 May in the WAFA list, 11 June in Noon Post, 11 July in Farwana’s list, and 5 November in Diwan al-Arab. ^[2][4][1][5]

Mahmoud Freitekh: Noon Post says he died after the Junaid prison hunger strike of 1984, while the WAFA and Farwana lists say he died under torture in Junaid prison on 16 April 1985. ^[4][2][1]

Zaki Siam: Farwana’s list dates his martyrdom to 8 June 1967 with his two comrades from Nuseirat, while in the WAFA list he appears under 4 January 1968. ^[1][2]

Awn al-Arair: 10 March 1970 in the WAFA and Farwana lists, and 3 October 1970 in Diwan al-Arab. ^[1][5]

Cause of death: lists may classify causes differently; Ishaq al-Maragha, for example, is listed under medical neglect, while Diwan al-Arab describes him as denied adequate treatment. ^[1][5]

Timeline

Frequently asked questions about prisoner martyrs 1967–1987

How many prisoners died between 1967 and 1987?

73 martyrs according to the WAFA and Abdel Naser Farwana lists. ^[1][2]

Who was the first prisoner to die under torture after 1967?

Yusuf al-Jabali of Nablus, in Nablus prison on 4 January 1968. ^[1]

What was the most common cause of death in this period?

Torture, under which 39 of the 73 died. ^[1]

Did Arab prisoners die in the occupation’s prisons?

Yes, from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. ^[1]

Sources and references

1. Abdel Naser Awni Farwana, “List of martyrs of the national prisoner movement,” Palestine Behind Bars, updated to 15 May 2023 (in Arabic).
2. Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) Info Centre, “Martyrs of the national prisoner movement in Israeli prisons and detention camps” (in Arabic).
3. Al Jazeera Encyclopedia, “The Palestinian prisoner movement: structures uniting prisoners against the occupation’s jailer,” 25 January 2025 (in Arabic).
4. Noon Post, on the hunger-strike martyrs of the occupation’s prisons (in Arabic).
5. Diwan al-Arab, “From the martyrs of the national prisoner movement,” 11 April 2003 (in Arabic).