CAIRO, April 29, 2012 (WAFA) - Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged international human rights organizations to immediately intervene to get Israel to respond to the humanitarian demands of striking Palestinian prisoners, said a statement released  by OIC on Saturday.

 Ihsanoglu said prisoners went on hunger strike to protest the deteriorated detention conditions, torture, solitary confinement, deprivation of family visitations and prevention of right to education, in addition to lack of medical care.

He called for the release of all Palestinian prisoners and called on the international community to uphold its responsibility to halt the Israeli occupation blatant violation of human rights.

“Israel is the only state in the world that legitimizes administrative detention without charge and detains children as political prisoners,” said Ihsanoglu.

He expressed his particular concern over the deteriorating health condition of striking prisoner, Tha’er Halahleh, who has been on an open-ended hunger strike for 62 days to protest his administrative detention without trial.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners went on an open-ended hunger strike on April 17 to protest their bad detention conditions in Israeli jails. The Israeli Prison Service faces the striking prisoners with punitive measures, which included isolations and transfer from one prison to another.

R.Q./F.R.