Jordanian prisoners enter 53rd day of hunger strike

hungerstrikePolitical prisoners with Jordanian citizenship in occupation prisons entered their 53rd day of ongoing hunger strike on June 23, protesting their continued detention, ill-treatment and dire health and living conditions they face in Israeli prisons, and the denial of family visits.

The detainees are demanding Israel either to release them or to transfer them to Jordan to serve their terms there, as stated by the Wadi ‘Araba Agreement signed between Jordan and Israel in 1994.

The striking detainees are also demanding Israel to reveal the fate and location of twenty missing Jordanians, and to transfer the remains of slain Jordanian, buried in the Numbers Graveyard, back to Jordan.

The five striking prisoners are Abdullah Barghouthi, Mohammad Rimawi, Hamza Othman, Munir Mar’ee and Alaa Hamad. Barghouthi is currently in hospital in Afula, and Rimawi, Othman, Mar’ee and Hamad are in Soroka Hospital. Barghouthi has reported sleep deprivation being used against him, as well as prison guards taunting him with food.

Recent protests in support of the Jordanian prisoners have taken place in Jordan, as well as in Nablus and Ramallah.