Former hunger striker and journalism student Malik al-Qadi was welcomed home with a reception in Bethlehem after his release from the hospital on Sunday, 2 October. Al-Qadi was released from Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial after a 68-day hunger strike on 23 September; he served four months in Israeli prison and had been previously detained in December 2015 without charge or trial for another four months.
Al-Qadi’s hunger strike took place simultaneously with brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed al-Balboul, also of Bethlehem; the Balboul brothers will be released from Israeli prison on 8 December.
Al-Qadi’s mother distributed sweets to welcome her son home; the Balboul family played a large role in the celebration to welcome Al-Qadi. The release dates for the brothers and for al-Qadi were set as the end of their administrative detention terms; their imprisonment will not be renewed.
There are over 700 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention in Israeli jails. As Al-Qadi was welcomed home today, two administrative detainees are currently on hunger strike in Israeli prison, Anas Shadid, 19, and Ahmad Abu Fara, 29. They are on their eighth day of hunger strike and have been imprisoned without charge or trial since August – Shadid was arrested on 1 August and Abu Fara on 8 August. Both are held in Ofer prison, without charge or trial, under six-month indefinitely-renewable detention orders.
Shadid was born on 6 July 1997 in Dura, near al-Khalil, while Abu Fara was born on 8 November 1987; he is married, from Surif, south of al-Khalil.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network congratulates Malik al-Qadi and his family and community on his release after his great battle; we urge international solidarity and support with the hunger strikers and with all Palestinian prisoners struggling for justice and liberation.
Photo: Hisham Abu Shaqrah
