Walid Daqqa, the Palestinian prisoner who turned decades in Israeli jails into moments of thought, creativity and love.

This is the story of Walid Daqqa, one of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, told by his immediate family and in voice recordings he made behind bars.

From a sharp-minded boy in 1948 Palestine to a clandestine PFLP organiser sentenced to life imprisonment, Daqqa turns his cell into a classroom, a think tank and, eventually, a wedding venue when he marries Sanaa Salama inside Ashkelon prison.

Through intimate testimonies from family, former prisoners and his lawyer, the film explores Walid’s idea of “parallel time” – living both under “tonnes of concrete” and beyond the walls. It recounts the smuggling of his sperm, the birth of his daughter, Milad, and his powerful message to her: hate oppression, not people. As cancer consumes him and Israel refuses his release, Milad’s final chant, “Freedom for our prisoners. For my father”, echoes a struggle that outlives Walid Daqqa’s life.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/video/al-jazeera-world/2026/5/21/walid-daqqa-a-parallel-life?traffic_source=rss