Ali Fahmi Ibrahim Da’na, 35, has now been on open hunger strike for 29 days amid worsening health, reported lawyer Fares Ziad of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
Ziad visited with Da’na in the Ramle prison clinic, noting that he suffers from poor health, low blood sugar; he has vomited blood on three occasions and continues to refuse all medical tests. Da’na is striking in protest of medical neglect by the prison administration.
The director of intelligence in the prison agreed to some of Da’na’s demands including visits with his mother and daughter, ending sanctions upon him for striking and transfer to Hadarim prison as well as providing treatment for his illness, during a meeting with Da’na, asking him to end his strike. However, an agreement was not made and additional meetings are planned in order to reach an agreement between Da’na and the prison administration.
Following his announcement of hunger strike, the prison administration banned Da’na from receiving family visits for 3 months, placed him in isolation for two weeks and fined him. Da’na’s isolation cell was inspected hourly at night, depriving him of sleep. Da’na was transferred to Ramle hospital after 14 days of strike and solitary confinement, suffering numbness, muscle spasms and low blood pressure.
Da’na suffers from health problems including chronic inflammation in the large intestine and chronic constipation. He was receiving medications on a permanent basis for both of these medical issues, but the prison doctor in Negev prison cancelled his prescription for three months and his attempts to receive treatment or resume his medications were rejected.
In mid-November 2013, while he was held in Negev prison, Da’na sued the prison clinic for denying his appointments and refusing to provide him with needed medication. Two days later a special unit ransacked and searched his room. He began his open hunger strike on December 3, 2013 and was transferred to solitary confinement. Da’na, of Ras al-Amud in Jerusalem, was arrested on July 16, 2003.
