Three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention currently remain on hunger strike in protest of their unfair and indefinite administrative detention without a charge or trial, according to the Detainees Affairs Commission.
The oldest hunger-striker of the four prisoners is Hesham Abu Hawwash who has been on hunger strike for 104 days, followed by Lo’ai Al-Ashqar and Nedal Ballout, on hunger strike for 49 and 31 days respectively.
Last week, a fellow prisoner, Kayed al-Fasfous broke his hunger strike after nearly four months of fasting nonstop. The decision to end his hunger strike came after he reached an agreement that secures his release at the end of his current administrative detention order.
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.
Last month, UN experts expressed grave fear for the lives of the hunger strikers, and called on Israel to either release or charge the prisoners, and to completely end its unlawful practice of administrative detention.
“In violation of international law, Israel continues to use administrative detention to imprison more than 500 Palestinians — including six children — without charges, without trials, without convictions, all based on classified secret information that the detainees have no access to,” the experts said. “They have no recourse to challenging these undisclosed allegations, and they do not know when, or if, they are going to be released.”
Currently, Israel is holding over 450 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.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency