On their 50th day of hunger strike, Palestinian administrative detainees Ahmad Abu Fara and Anas Shadid are facing a critical health crisis. Both have been on hunger strike since 25 September to demand their freedom from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. They are held, shackled hand and foot to their hospital beds, at the Assaf Harofeh hospital.
An appeal filed for Shadid’s release by his lawyer, citing his desperate health condition, will be heard today, Monday 14 November, by the Israeli supreme court. Shadid, 19, from the village of Dura near al-Khalil, is suffering from severe migraine headaches, dizziness, weakness, shortness of breath and sharp eye pain. He was arrested in a raid on his home by Israeli occupation forces on 2 August and ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial.
Also on Monday, the military appeals court at Ofer will hear the appeal of Abu Fara, 29, for his freedom. The Israel Prison Service has been ordered to present a report on Abu Fara’s health, which has also witnessed extreme deterioration in recent days. Abu Fara is suffering from severe headaches, shortness of breath, blurred vision, and pain throughout his body. From the village of Surif near al-Khalil, Abu Fara has also been imprisoned without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention since August.
Meanwhile, three Palestinian brothers, Abdel-Salam, Nidal, and Nour al-Din Omar, announced that they have been on an open hunger strike together for 11 days in protest of Nour al-Din’s solitary confinement in Eshel prison. He has been held in isolation for three years and the brothers are demanding his return to general population. The end of solitary confinement has, alongside the end of administrative detention, been a consistent demand of Palestinian hunger strikers.
On Sunday, 13 November, Raed Salah, the imprisoned leader of the northern Islamic Movement in Palestine ’48, launched an open hunger strike against his long-term isolation and mistreatment in Ramon prison, reported his lawyer Mohammed Aghbarieh. Imprisoned in May on incitement charges dating back to 2009, he was ordered to nine months in Israeli prison and shortly thereafter thrown into isolation. He has also been denied access to books and other items donated to him by family members and political leaders. Salah’s arrest and imprisonment, and the attacks on the Islamic Movement, have been widely condemned across the Palestinian political spectrum as an overall attack on the Palestinian population holding Israeli citizenship. Salah is on hunger strike to demand an end to his solitary confinement. Earlier, the Israeli courts rejected an appeal by Al-Mezan Human Rights Foundation for Salah’s release from solitary confinement on a “security” pretext.
Samidoun reiterates that the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for the lives and health of Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Fara; Abdel-Salam, Nidal, and Nour al-Din Omar; and Raed Salah and all 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. We urge international solidarity with these hunger strikers whose bodies are on the line for freedom and against torture at this critical time.
Take action!
1. Hold a direct action, protest, picket or demonstration, including building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to internationally isolate Israel, its institutions, and the corporations – like G4S -that profit from imprisonment, occupation, racism, colonialism and injustice. Demand freedom for Ahmad Abu Fara, Anas Shadid and all Palestinian prisoners. A flyer is provided below for distribution at your events and other actions. Please email [email protected] or post to Samidoun on Facebook about your events and actions.
2. Call political figures to demand action for the hunger strikers. Call your government officials to pressure them to end the silence and complicity with the Israeli regime of political imprisonment and administrative detention.
Call during your country’s regular office hours:
- Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop: + 61 2 6277 7500
- Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: +1-613-996-5789
- European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
- New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully: +64 4 439 8000
- United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson: +44 20 7008 1500
- United States President Barack Obama: 1-202-456-1111
Tell your government:
- Two Palestinian prisoners, Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Fara, have been on hunger strike since 25 September against administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial.
- Your government must demand the strikers’ immediate release and end all support for Israel’s political imprisonment and other crimes against Palestinians.
- Israel’s use of administrative detention is a universally-recognized violation of human rights and international law.
- The government must do more than criticize administrative detention or express concern, but should also take serious measures to end these violations.
Download the leaflet: Click here to download PDF
