Palestinian prisoner completes 136 days on hunger strike in critical condition

Palestinian prisoner Hisham Abu Hawash meets 136 days on hunger strike to protest the administrative detention imposed by Israel, without charge or trial. The Palestinian suffers a serious deterioration of your health; he has lost the ability to speak and to see.

Hawash was transferred to a hospital three days ago upon entering critical condition. Given the seriousness of his health, the Israeli authorities decided to freeze his administrative detention to transfer the prisoner to a hospital. Nevertheless, his arrest is still in effect. Eleven days ago, an Israeli court refused to grant him his freedom and to offer Hawash medical care. They left the decision in the hands of the Ramla prison, where he was detained.

Hawash was detained on October 27, 2020, and received three consecutive administrative detention orders, each for six months. A total of eight years in Israeli prisons, including 52 months in administrative detention without chargeaccording to the official Palestinian Wafa agency.

The Israeli policy of administrative detention, widely condemned by the international community, allows the arrest of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable periods, ranging from three to six months, based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer cannot review.

Freedom of some prisoners

Palestinian prisoner Kayed al Fasfús was released on December 4 after 131 days on a hunger strike to protest his indefinite administrative detention without charge. Likewise, Loai al Ashqar ended a 49-day hunger strike after agreeing with the Israeli authorities on his release date. After 113 days without eating, Miqdad Qawasmeh ended his hunger strike last November when he learned that he would be released in February next year.

Today, Israel supports more than 500 Palestinians in administrative detention. In all, there are 4,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to indefinite hunger strikes as a way to protest against their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy that represents a violation of International Law. Since the beginning of 2021, more than 60 prisoners they have gone on a hunger strike in protest against this type of detention.

According to the NGO Betselem, “Israel has created a Kafkaesque legal reality for the Palestinians, imprisoning hundreds without trial for an indefinite period of time on the grounds that they intend to commit some crime in the future.”