Hassan Shokeh enters third week of hunger strike; 44 more administrative detention orders in June

Hassan Shokeh Photo: Asra Media

Palestinian prisoner Hassan Shokeh, 30, held without charge or trial under administrative detention, has entered his third week of hunger strike, demanding his release. On 23 June, he was transferred to isolation in Ramle prison from Ofer prison.

Shokeh, a former long-term hunger striker, is protesting his transfer to administrative detention. As he enters his third week without food, he is facing severe health symptoms. He cannot walk and must use a wheelchair to get around and has severe pain in the kidneys, head and eyes. He refuses to perform medical tests in the prison clinic.

Shokeh was seized by the Israeli occupation on 29 September 2017, only one month after he was released from Israeli jails on 31 August 2017. He launched his open hunger strike for the first time on 11 October after he was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. He suspended the strike on 14 November after 35 days, after his case was moved to the military courts. There, he was sentenced to six months in Israeli prison. After his sentence expired on 3 June 2018, however, he was not released but arbitrarily ordered once more to administrative detention without charge or trial.

Shokeh is not the only hunger striker in Israeli prisons – Jawad Jawarish, 42, serving a life sentence for his involvement with the resistance through the Fateh movement’s Al-Aqsa Brigades, has been on strike for 19 days against his isolation and transfer.

Photo: Anas Shadid

In addition, other former long-term hunger strikers are facing renewed imprisonment without charge or trial. The administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner and former long-term hunger striker Anas Shadid, 22, was extended once again on 20 June for an additional six months. Shadid, from the town of Dura near al-Khalil, was re-arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 14 June 2017 after he had been released for only two weeks from nine months in administrative detention without charge or trial.

During that time, he carried out an 88-day hunger strike demanding his freedom and protesting administrative detention. He ended his strike with an agreement that his administrative detention would be ended on 30 May. However, only two weeks after his freedom, occupation forces came to, once again, throw him in jail without charge or trial. Since his re-arrest, his detention has been extended three times.

Since 15 February, Palestinian administrative detainees have engaged in a comprehensive boycott of the Israeli military courts. They refuse to participate in the rubber-stamp process that provides a thin veneer of legality to the system. Administrative detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time, and they are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Since the beginning of June, 44 administrative detention orders have been issued by the Israeli occupation, including 22 for the first time after their arrest. Among the others, this includes a renewal of the detention order of prominent Palestinian leftist, feminist parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, who has already been jailed for a year, for an additional four months. The detention orders issued so far in June are:

1. Wissam Mufid ‘Abed, Jenin, 4 months, new order
2. Yazan Aysir Nizalin, Bethlehem, 3 months, new order
3. Mu’min Abdel-Aziz Hreibat, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
4. Mohammed Hassan Aadi, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
5. Issam Jamil Eshtayyeh, Nablus, 6 months, extension
6. Nayef Abdel-Fattah Bazzar, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
7. Mohammed Khaled Abu Sal, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
8. Musaab Saher Barghouthi, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
9. Mu’min Musa Atrash, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
10. Mahmoud Hassan Wardian, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
11. Osama Hussein Shahin, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
12. Ziad Ali al-Qawasmeh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
13. Munjid Musa al-Junaidi, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
14. Munjed Khaled Ashour, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
15. Munjid Mohammed Qimri, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
16. Zaid Akram Qawasmeh, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
17. Basem Mohammed Abidu, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
18. Abdullah Mohammed Abidu, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
19. Hisham Hmedian Sharabati, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
20. Ibrahim Fadl al-Sheikh, Jerusalem, 6 months, new order
21. Mohammed Walid Bani Jarrah, Jenin, 6 months, new order
22. Karam Bassam Tanina, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
23. Noureddine Ahmed Sweifa, al-Khalil, 3 months, new order
24. Abdel-Majid Ahmed Abu Srour, Bethlehem, 5 months, new order
25. Mohammed Jamal Hamideh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
26. Fadi Mohammed Nasrallah, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
27. Yousef Bader Akhil, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
28. Khalida Kanaan Jarrar, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
29. Ammar Mustafa Abu Aker, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
30. Shehab Hassan Mezher, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
31. Fouad Rabah Assi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
32. Anas Ibrahim Shadid, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
33. Sharif Nayef Suleiman, Jenin, 4 months, extension
34. Basil Hussam Ma’allah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
35. Ahmed Jamal Abu Jalghaif, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
36. Jihad Abdel-Qader Abdel-Fattah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
37. Adib Mohammed Mafarjah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
38. Jihad Mohammed Suleiman, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
39. Mohammed Ahmed Sabah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
40. Qassem Majd Barghouthi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
41. Mohammed Abdel-Aziz Faqih, Jerusalem, 2 months, extension
42. Ibrahim Kamal Shalabi, Jenin, 3 months, extension
43. Munther Yousef Zouneh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
44. Omar Diab Abu Shkeidam, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension