RAMALLAH, A total of six Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention currently remain on hunger strike in protest of their unfair administrative detention without a charge or trial, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

The longest hunger-striker of the six prisoners is prisoner Kayed Fasfous, who has been on hunger strike for 67 days in protest of his detention without a charge or trial, followed by Muqdad Qawasmeh (60 days), Alaa Aaraj (42 days), Hesham Abu Hawwash (34 days), Rayeq Besharat (29 days), and Shadi Abu Akr (26).

Fasfous’s family have recently expressed their concern over their son’s deteriorating health condition, including a loss of 35 kg of weight and vision impairment, following 67 days of hunger strike.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.

Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to 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.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency