Take Action: Sa’adat strikes in solidarity as administrative detainees near 1 month of hunger
Ahmad Sa’adat,
imprisoned Palestinian leader and General Secretary of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, engaged in a one-day solidarity
hunger strike on May 21, in support of an open hunger strike of
Palestinian administrative detainees held in occupation prisons. He was
one of 120 prisoners in Hadarim prison who joined the one-day strike
demanding the end of administrative detention, confinement in occupation
prisons without trial or charge. Click here to send a letter now and take action in support of the striking administrative detainees!
The administrative detainees’ open hunger strike began on April 24.
As of May 20, there were approximately 120 Palestinian prisoners on an
open-ended hunger strike, most who began 28 days ago. 15 Palestinian
political prisoners have been hospitalized since the strike began.
Occupation prison authorities have engaged in a number of repressive
measures in retaliation against strikers, including solitary
confinement, denial of legal visits, arbitrary transfers, late-night
raids and disruptive, violent inspections. Strikers were denied water and salt for at least the first fifteen days of the strike, putting their health at risk.
At the same time, Mohammed Kana’aneh (Abu As’ad) of Abna’a el Balad Movement in
occupied Palestine ’48, himself a former prisoner, launched a
solidarity open hunger strike in support of the striking prisoners’
demands. Solidarity tents and rallies have taken place throughout
Palestine. Kana’aneh has declared that he will consume only salt and
water until the strikers’ demands are met.
Mohammad Kana’aneh
40 additional Palestinian prisoners announced
they would join the open-ended strike in Naqab Prison beginning on the
21st, raising the total number of strikers to approximately 160. Marwan
Barghouthi, a Fateh leader and member of the Palestinian Legislative
Council, also engaged in a one-day strike on May 21. Fifteen prisoners
in Ashkelon prison announced that they will join the strike on Sunday if
the administrative detainees’ demand to end administrative detention is
not met. Future days of action involving thousands of prisoners – up to
and including a full collective hunger strike – are planned if the
occupation prison authority continues to ignore the administrative
detainees’ demands.
The strike was launched in Ofer, Megiddo and
Naqab Prisons; there were 186 Palestinians being held without charge or
trial at the time. Rather than reducing the use of administrative
detention as promised in 2012, its use has increased and continues to be
a standard policy: in 2014, 142 administrative detention orders and
renewals have been issued. Addameer notes that
the strike is currently taking place in Naqab, Ofer, Marash, Ayalon and
Ayala prisons and isolation cells. It should be noted that G4S, the British/Danish security company subject to an international boycott campaign, provides cameras and surveillance equipment at Ofer and Megiddo.
Ayman al-Tabeesh,
Palestinian political prisoner held under administrative detention, has
now been on hunger strike for 80 days. has been detained since May 2013
and engaged in an open hunger strike for 105 days, ending on September
4, 2013, which ended with an agreement to not renew his administrative
detention after the current period. However, in direct violation of the
agreement, his administrative detention was again renewed without charge
or trial, sparking his renewed hunger strike.
Shireen Issawi, Palestinian lawyer and the
sister of former prisoner and long-term hunger striker Samer Issawi,
engaged in a 13-day hunger strike which was suspended on May 21 after an
appeal secured her re-trial and a reconsideration of release. Her court
date had earlier been postponed for six months.
TAKE ACTION!
2. Write to the International Committee of
the Red Cross and call upon it to visit all hunger striking detainees
and prisoners, as well as publicly condemn the policy of administrative
detention which is in clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
as stipulated by the ICRC mandate to protect international humanitarian
law. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the
conditions of prisoners, at JER_jerusalem@icrc.org.
3. Organize a protest or action in your city to support the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Demonstrate outside an Israeli consulate or embassy in your city.
4. Share this alert via email, Facebook and Twitter with your colleagues, comrades, friends and contacts.
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