JENIN,
July 12, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Sunday released political prisoner
Khader Adnan after he reached a deal with the latter to end his 55-day of
hunger strike in return for his release.
Under
the deal, which was signed on June 29th, Adnan was set to be released on
July 12. The Israeli authorities also pledged not to detain him again under
administrative detention – without indictment or trial.
Adnan
is a member of the Islamic Jihad movement and is considered one of its active
members. He was also the media spokesman of the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank,
which made him a frequent target by the Israeli occupation forces.
He
was detained about 10 times since 1997 when he was still in university. In
1999, he was detained for four months without charges being filed against him.
In 2000 he was arrested again to be only released in 2001. In 2002, Adnan was
detained again by Israel for 12 months, also without any charges filed against
him. After one year he was detained for 11 months, during which he went on a
hunger strike for 28 days.
In
2005, Israel detained Adnan and was only released after 16 months. He became
mostly known for his 66-day hunger strike in 2013, which was the first and then
longest hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Even after his release, Adnan went on
another hunger strike for 12 days in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners
detained in Israeli jails.
In
July 2014, Adnan was detained again, where he was issued an administrative
detention for six months that was renewed again in February 2015. He went on a
one-week warning hunger strike, which was met with another renewal in May 2015,
leading to his current hunger strike.
Under
administrative detention rule, Israel imprisons Palestinians without charge or
trial and on the basis of secret evidence for up to six month periods,
renewable by Israeli military courts.
The
use of administrative detention dates back to the “emergency laws” of the British
colonial era in Palestine.
The
Palestinian detainees and ex-detainees affairs committee reported that there are two prisoners currently on a hunger
strike for over 23 days now to protest their continued illegal detention
without charge or trial.
Media
sources reported that starting from July
1st, 60 prisoners began boycotting Israeli courts in protest of administrative
detention, adding that, “all 484
Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails without trial will join the
boycott.”
Palestinian detainees have
continuously announced 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.
According
to Israel Prison Service (IPS) data, more than 60% of administrative detainees
held at the end of August 2014 had been held for three months or less. Some 10%
had been held for three to six months, some 13% from six months to one year,
and some 13% from one to two years.
Four
detainees had been in administrative detention continuously for over two years.
Until
the moment there are 500 administrative detention detainees, 18 of whom are
members of the legislative council.
T.R.
