A Palestinian administrative detainee in Israel who has been fighting for his freedom yesterday suspended his 69-day hunger strike following the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) decision to terminate his detention in April 2022, according to the Prisoners Affairs Committee.

The Committee’s media officer, Hassan Abed-Rabbo, said that Shadi Abu Aker, a 37-year-old resident of Aida refugee camp in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, decided to suspend his hunger strike started on August 25 against being placed under administrative detention without charge or trial.

He was arrested by Israeli military forces on September 10, 2020, and an administrative detention order was issued against him and was renewed again.

He is suffering from serious health conditions and was frequently transferred from Ramleh Prison to Israeli hospitals.

Meanwhile, six other Palestinian administrative detainees in Israel are on a prolonged hunger strike in protest against their detention without charge or trial and are determined to continue their strike until they are unconditionally released.

These prisoners include Kayed Fasfous, a 32-year-old from Dura town near Hebron, who has been on hunger strike for 110 days and is in critical condition and lost about a third of his weight, and Miqdad Qawasmi, a 24-year-old Palestinian from Hebron city, who has been on hunger strike for 103 days and is at the risk of sudden death.

Alaa al-Araj has been on hunger strike for 85 days, Hisham Abu Hawwash, 39, for 76 days, Ayyad al-Hraimi for 40 days, in addition to Louay al-Ashqar, who launched his hunger strike for 22 consecutive days.

Israel’s widely condemned practice of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

The US State Department has said in past reports on human rights conditions for Palestinians that administrative detainees are not given the “opportunity to refute allegations or address the evidentiary material presented against them in court.”

Amnesty International has described Israel’s use of administrative detention as a “bankrupt tactic” and has long called on Israel to bring its use to an end.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes as a way to protest their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy, which violates international law.

Source : Safa