RAMALLAH, April 20, 2016 (WAFA) – A Palestinian detainee in the Israeli desert jail of Naqab has been on an open-ended hunger strike for two weeks in protest of being held in jail without a charge or trial, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’’ Society (PPS).
PPS said that detainee Foad Assi, 30, from the village of Beit Luqia, west of Ramallah in the West Bank, has been on a hunger strike since April 5, receiving only water.
Assi’s administrative detention has been renewed for the second time in a row, but unless Israel renews his term in jail for a third time he is expected to be freed next July, his attorney told the press.
He previously spent actual prison sentences of about five years.
To be noted, two other Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails – Sami Janazra and Adeeb Mafarjeh – are hunger striking in protest of their illegal administrative detention, without a charge or trial. A third detainee, Mahmoud Sweiti, is also hunger striking against being denied family visitation.
Palestinians often resort to hunger strike to protest their detention without charge or trial.
Israel routinely uses administrative detention against Palestinians. Statistics show that over the years, thousands of Palestinians have been held in Israeli custody as administrative detainees for extended periods of time.
In April 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) expressed concern by the continued and increasing use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities against Palestinians.
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