Israeli military court extends Khader Adnan’s detention until 15 January 2018

The Israeli occupation Salem military court extended the detention of Palestinian activist and former long-term hunger striker Khader Adnan until 15 January 2018 in a hearing on Sunday, 24 December. Randa Adnan, Khader’s wife, said that he spoke to the court on his own behalf at the hearing and rejected all charges against him.

Sheikh Adnan was seized from his home in the village of Arraba, near Jenin, on 11 December; he has previously been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and conducted a 55-day hunger strike and a 66-day hunger strike to win his freedom on two separate occasions. He has become an international symbol of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and struggle for freedom.

He is one of over 500 Palestinians seized since U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Palestinians have taken to the streets in a renewed upsurge that has been met by intense repression by occupation forces; there have been 14 Palestinians killed, thousands wounded, and over 500 detained since 6 December, including a large proportion of child prisoners like Ahed Tamimi and Abdul-Khalik Burnat.