Sami Janazrah, 43, entered his 60th day of hunger strike on 1 May; held in Israeli administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – since 15 November, he has refused food since 3 March. As he did so, he was transferred once again to solitary confinement in Ella prison from Soroka hospital, where he had been held for one day.
Janazrah had been taken to hospital once before, on 24 April, when he was injured after fainting during another forced prison transfer, from solitary confinement in the Ketziot Negev prison to Ella. He has been repeatedly transfered from Ketziot to Ella and to the hospital and back again, despite severe health deterioration, weight loss, and fainting spells, adding even greater psychological stress. Ahmad al-Najjar of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society described the repeated transfers as a deliberate attempt to break Janazrah’s strike.
Adib Mafarjah, 28, and Fouad Assi, 30, both from Beit Liqiya near Ramallah, also continued their hunger strikes against imprisonment without charge or trial for the 29th day; they began to refuse food on 3 April in protest of their ongoing imprisonment under administrative detention. Assi has been imprisoned since 9 August 2015, while Mafarjah has been imprisoned since 10 December 2014. Both of their administrative detention orders – like Janazrah’s – have been renewed, extending their imprisonment. Janazrah, Mafarjah and Assi are among over 700 Palestinians held without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention.
Janazrah, Mafarjah and Assi were joined on hunger strike by Majdi Yassin, 33, a Palestinian lawyer living in Sweden who holds Swedish citizenship; he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces while returning to Sweden across the Allenby bridge to Jordan from a visit to his hometown of Aneen in Jenin. He has been on hunger strike for one week.
In addition, Mansour Moqtada, the seriously ill prisoner permanently held in Ramle prison clinic, continued his partial hunger strike against Israeli medical neglect for the 20th day. There are also reports that there is a Palestinian prisoner from Jerusalem, Osama al-Rajbi, who is on hunger strike for 20 days protesting his solitary confinement.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges people of conscience around the world, Palestine solidarity organizations and supporters of justice to take action in support of these Palestinian prisoners on the front lines in the struggle against occupation and apartheid. Samidoun protested on Friday, 29 April in New York City and will protest again on Friday, 6 May at 4:00 pm outside G4S offices at 19 W. 44th St in Manhattan for their freedom. We urge people around the world to join us in protest, action, and raising our voices to demand freedom for Sami Janazrah, Fouad Assi, Adib Mafarjah and all Palestinian prisoners!
