Khader Adnan, Palestinian political prisoner held under detention without charge or trial, launched an open-ended hunger strike on May 6 in protest of the third extension of his administrative detention, for a four-month period. Adnan, 37, a baker from Arraba near Jenin, is a previous long-term hunger striker whose 2012 66-day hunger strike secured his release from administrative detention and helped to spark a wave of hunger strikes by Palestinian political prisoners demanding freedom and changes in conditions inside the prison. Take Action! Demand freedom for Khader Adnan!
Adnan has been arrested ten times by Israeli occupation forces; he has generally been ordered to administrative detention by the Israeli military. Administrative detention is imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence for indefinitely renewable one to six month periods. Over 401 administrative detention orders have been issued so far this year against Palestinians.
IMEMC reported that Adnan’s wife, Randa, said Adnan’s lawyer phoned her, on Tuesday evening, informing her that Adnan started a hunger strike, and had immediately been moved into solitary confinement in Hadarim prison.
Released in April 2012, Adnan was re-arrested with a slew of fellow former political prisoners in the Israeli mass arrest raids of July 2014, following the killing of three settlers in the West Bank and shortly before the war on Gaza. He was quickly returned to administrative detention without charge or trial with a six month sentence, renewed for four months in January and now again for four months. In January, he held a one-week hunger strike for which he announced the duration in advance, protesting the renewal of his detention.
In 2012, Adnan’s hunger strike captured the support of international activists, human rights organizations and the Palestinian people. His image, in a stylized graphic designed by Palestinian artist Hafez Omar, covered walls throughout Palestine. Internationally he became a symbol of the steadfastness and continuing struggle of Palestinians behind Israeli bars and expressed solidarity with fellow political prisoner Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, held in French jails for 31 years, and the mass hunger strike of California prisoners.
Take Action! Demand freedom for Khader Adnan!
1. Send a letter/petition immediately to Israeli officials demanding the release of Khader Adnan. Make sure the international voice is heard demanding his freedom!
2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.
3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.
*Thank you for taking action! Khader Adnan is now free. Thousands of people responded to this alert and took action to support his strike.
Letter: Sign Here – Free Khader Adnan – End Administrative Detention!
To Brigadier General Dani Afroni, Military Judge Advocate General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
I write today to call for an immediate end to the use of solitary confinement and isolation against Khader Adnan, and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
I write today to demand the immediate release of Khader Adnan as well as the end of the use of administrative detention. Adnan is being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence. It is the tenth time that Israel has imprisoned Mr. Adnan without charge or trial, where he joins 500 fellow Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention.
Khader Adnan’s life – and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- are precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on the case of Khader Adnan, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for his health and his life.
Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day – even in the rigged military court systems.
Khader Adnan’s valiant hunger strike three years ago was heard around the world as a cry for freedom – his strike today is heard and supported as well. He must be released immediately and without condition.
Sincerely,
