Muhammad Allan, long-term hunger striker re-arrested this morning as he left Barzilai hospital, has re-launched his hunger strike against administrative detention without charge or trial. Allan, 31, a Palestinian lawyer, had been held under administrative detention since November 2014, and launched a 65-day hunger strike demanding his freedom which ended after an Israeli Supreme Court decision suspending his detention due to his precarious health situation; Allan had entered a coma. Take action to demand his immediate release.
Allan had threatened to re-launch his hunger strike if he was not transferred to Najah hospital in Nablus; instead, when he was permitted to exit the hospital early this morning, he was immediately arrested. An Israeli military court re-issued his original administrative detention order, under which he is imprisoned until 4 November. (As administrative detention without charge or trial is indefinitely renewable, this does not mean that he will be released on that date – his detention could easily be renewed again.)
Allan was transferred to Ramle prison clinic, where he has now re-launched his hunger strike. He is now the eighth Palestinian administrative detainee on hunger strike, demanding an end to administrative detention without charge or trial.
The “Battle of Breaking the Chains” was launched on 20 August by Nidal Abu Aker, Ghassan Zawahreh, Shadi Ma’ali, Munir Abu Sharar and Badr al-Ruzza, five Palestinians held under administrative detention, who began a hunger strike to demand an end to the practice, under which 480 Palestinians are indefinitely detained. The strike was joined by Bilal Daoud Saifi and later, Suleiman Skafi, and now, Muhammad Allan’s re-launched hunger strike.
Israel’s routine use of administrative detention violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. It has been widely condemned by Palestinian and international organizations.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the immediate release of Muhammad Allan, clearly an attempt to reverse the achievement of his hunger strike and re-impose the injustice of administrative detention just as a number of prisoners are deeply engaged in an open hunger strike to demand an end to the policy. This latest outrage only re-emphasizes the critical importance of the “Battle of Breaking the Chains” and Palestinian prisoners’ struggle to end administrative detention once and for all.
1. Sign on: Send a letter demanding Allan’s immediate release, and that of all administrative detainees, especially the hunger strikers. Israeli officials must hear the voice of the world demanding that the policy of administrative detention must come to an end.
2. Sign on to this statement in support of the prisoners’ demand to End Administrative Detention. Organizational and individual endorsements are welcome – and organizational endorsements particularly critical – in support of the prisoners’ demands and their actions. Click here to sign or sign below:http://bit.ly/EndAdministrativeDetention
3 Send a solidarity statement. The support of people around the world helps to inform people about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. It is a morale booster and helps to build political solidarity. Please send your solidarity statements to [email protected]. They will be published and sent directly to the prisoners.
4. Hold a solidarity one-day hunger strike in your area. Gather in a tent or central area, bring materials about Palestinian prisoners and hold a one-day solidarity strike to raise awareness and provide support for the struggle of the prisoners and the Palestinian cause. Please email us at [email protected] to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
5. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. 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 this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at [email protected] to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
6. Contact political officials in your country – members of Parliament or Congress, or the Ministry/Department of Foreign Affairs or State – and demand that they cut aid and relations with Israel on the basis of its apartheid practices, its practice of colonialism, and its numerous violations of Palestinian rights including the systematic practice of administrative detention. Demand they pressure Israel to free the hunger strikers and end administrative detention.
7. 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. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.
