Two Palestinian prisoners held in administrative detention without charge or trial are continuing their hunger strikes despite serious threats to their health: Mohammed al-Qeeq, 33, is now on his 53rd day of hunger strike and Hassan Shokah, 27, is now on his 35th day of strike.
Journalist Al-Qeeq, a correspondent for Al-Majd channel, has entered in and out of consciousness in the past several days.
On 16 January, the Ofer military court rejected an appeal by Al-Qeeq against his imprisonment without charge. Issa Qaraqe, chair of the Palestinian Detainees’ Affairs Committee, said that this underlines the military courts’ responsibility for Al-Qeeq’s dangerous health situation and that the court was acting out of “revenge” against Al-Qeeq for his hunger strike, noting that the military courts serve only to present a legal facade for Israeli intelligence and military repression.
He is held in Afula hospital, where he is shackled to his hospital bed and is facing increasing physical danger after 53 days of strike. On Friday, Palestinian citizens of Israel organized a protest outside Afula hospital calling for Al-Qeeq’s release.
Doctors at Afula hospital delivered intravenous nutrients against Al-Qeeq’s objection; when he regained consciousness he removed the intravenous tube, rejecting any form of nutrients or forced treatment. He has previously been arrested three times and served over two years in Israeli occupation prisons.
Shokah, 27, has also been held multiple times in administrative detention without charge or trial. He is being held in isolation in Jalameh prison, imprisoned arbitrarily via military order since 16 September 2015. He was denied winter clothing when transferred in a cold metal van to Jalameh and then was denied winter blankets within the prison.
Information contributed by Reham Alhelsi of A Voice from Palestine.
Take Action to support the Hunger Strikers:
1. 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 atsamidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners. Join our protest in New York City on January 22.
2. 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.
2. 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.
