Ayman al-Tabeesh suspends hunger strike

tabeesh-123Ayman al-Tabeesh suspended his hunger strike on Monday, June 30 after 123 days of striking, following an agreement with the occupation prison services, reported Muhja Foundation. The final renewal of his administrative detention, beginning July 7, 2014 will be the last, according to the agreement, and he will be released on January 5, 2015.

Muhja Foundation said that “this agreement is a victory for the struggling prisoner Ayman Al-Tabeesh, who rejected all the pressures from the management of the Zionist prisons, and a victory for all prisoners in Israeli jails who are daily victorious with their empty stomachs over the racist prison administration.”

Al-Tabeesh, of Dura near al-Khalil, was born in 1980; he did not complete his university studies due to repeated arrests and has served over 10 years in occupation prisons, much of that time in administrative detention without charge or trial.

He previously engaged in a 105-day hunger strike in 2013, which ended with a similar agreement to not renew his detention; however, the occupation authorities broke the agreement and renewed his detention, causing him to renew his strike on February 28, 2014.

He is now in hospital and is suffering from stomach and heart issues. Islam Abdo of the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs “warned the prison administration from attempting to circumvent the agreement, especially as this is not the first time.” One prisoner, Musa Raed, remains on hunger strike for approximately one month, protesting the renewal of his administrative detention without charge or trial.