Two Palestinians held in Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial, Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, are now on hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention and demanding their release. Take action now to demand freedom for Allan and Isteiti and the end of administrative detention.
Allan, 31 and a practicing lawyer from Nablus, is being held in isolation in Ayala prison. He was placed in isolation after 20 days of his strike. As of 12 July, he has been on hunger strike for 26 days. He has been detained since 6 November 2014. The renewal of his administrative detention without charge or trial prompted his strike.
He has lost nearly 10 kg of weight since his strike began, and is currently suffering severe stomach pain.
Isteiti, 24, from Jenin refugee camp, has been on strike for 25 days, and is held in isolation in Eshel prison, where he was moved three days ago from the Negev prison. He has been detained since 17 November 2014. Like Allan, the renewal of his detention prompted his strike.
These hunger strikes come as dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees have announced a boycott of the Israeli military courts that essentially function as a rubber-stamp, signing off on administrative detention orders on the basis of secret evidence – and as Khader Adnan has once again been victorious in his 55-day hunger strike, released on 12 July 2015 after a year of administrative detention.
Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. Its use in Palestine dates from the era of British colonization.
Take action to demand freedom for Allan and Isteiti and the end of administrative detention!
1. Send a letter/petition immediately to Israeli officials demanding the release of Allan and Isteiti and the end of administrative detention. Make sure the international voice is heard demanding their freedom!
2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include these cases in your next event about Palestine and social justice.
3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.
To Brigadier General Dani Afroni, Military Judge Advocate General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
I write today to call for an immediate release of Palestinian hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, held without charge or trial under administrative detention.
I also demand the end of the use of administrative detention. Like over 400 other Palestinians, Allan and Isteiti are being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence. Allan and Isteiti have been on hunger strike for over 20 days.
Dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees are boycotting the military courts that produce these arbitrary sentences with no charge and no trial. I join their call to end this detention.
The lives of Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti – and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- are precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on these case, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for the hunger strikers’ health and lives.
Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day – even in the rigged military court systems.
Allan and Isteiti must be released immediately and without condition, along with their fellow administrative detainees.
Sincerely,
