Hesham Abu Hawwash, a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails who has been on hunger strike for 138 days, has entered an extremely critical health stage, today said the Detainees Affairs Commission.
Abu Hawwash, a father of five, has been on hunger strike in protest of his detention without charge or trial based on Israel’s administrative detention policy, which allows Palestinians to be held in prison indefinitely on the bases of a ‘secret file’ that even the detainee’s lawyer is not allowed to view.
Hasan Abed Rabbo, a spokesman for the Commission, told WAFA that Abu Hawwash has lost his ability to move and is speaking with difficulty.
Yesterday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said a delegation of its own visited Abu Hawwash at the Israeli medical center of Assaf Harofeh and found that his health condition was seriously dangerous as he suffers blurry vision, significant muscular atrophy and inability to move and talk.
MoH said its delegation tried to obtain the medical examinations that had been carried out to prisoner Abu Hawash, noting that a December 16 examination for him suggests a critical shortage of potassium salt and an increase in liver enzymes. No other examinations were conducted for Abu Hawwash after that date, MoH added.
MoH pointed out that it had reached out to international human rights organizations to demand that Abu Hawwash be moved to a Palestinian hospital after the serious deterioration in his health condition.
This widely condemned Israeli policy of administrative detention allows the Israeli occupation military to sentence Palestinians up to 6 months in Israeli detention on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.
This policy has at times forced Palestinian detainees to go on hunger strike as a last resort to demand their freedom.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency