Muhammed Allan is attached to a ventilator at Barzilai Hospital to preserve his respiration after he lost consciousness and entered a coma last night, reported Ma’an News. On his 59th day of hunger strike, he has entered a severely critical medical phase. – losing consciousness, having lost lung function, unable to walk, and suffering blurred vision and hearing loss. Take Action to demand Allan’s immediate release.
As Allan struggles to stay alive and win his freedom – he is held without charge or trial under administrative detention – the Israeli Prison Administration has imposed a lockdown on the prisons holding Palestinian prisoners, closing sections and banning recreation and group prayer, seeking to squelch protests and uprisings in response to Allan’s medical crisis. Armed troops are deployed on the roofs of Ramon prison sections, reported Palestinian Authority Prisoners Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe.
Barzilai Hospital said that Allan received intravenous salts; he was visited by a doctor from the International Committee for the Red Cross and his lawyer, Jamal al-Khatib. Members of Knesset Osama al-Saadi and Ahmad Tibi visited Allan yesterday in the hospital, where the 31-year-old lawyer from Einabous near Nablus is held. Al-Saadi reported in a press conference that Allan wrote a four-page will, shackled hand and foot to his hospital bed.
Allan has been held under administrative detention since November 2014 and the renewal of the detention order against him prompted his hunger strike, demanding his freedom. He has consumed nothing but water for the duration of the strike.
Palestinian human rights organizations have urged international action to save Allan, who is also threatened with force-feeding by the Israeli military. A new law passed in July, the “Law to Prevent Harm Caused by Hunger Strikers,” permits the force-feeding of hunger striking prisoners; force-feeding is a cruel, inhumane and degrading practice amounting to torture. The law has been condemned by the ICRC, UN and World Health Organization officials; to date, doctors have abided by the Israeli Medical Association’s prohibition of the practice, in line with international health covenants.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its call for the broadest international action to free Muhammed Allan and his fellow Palestinian prisoners and prevent his torture through force-feeding. Events are upcoming in London, Berlin, Vancouver and other cities and it is critical that people around the world make their voices heard to hold the Israeli state accountable for the life of Muhammed Allan and release him instantly.
The imprisonment and torture of Allan is part and parcel of the Israeli colonial policy of the mass imprisonment of Palestinians, the attack on the rights of Palestinian prisoners won by long struggle of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, and the attack on Palestinian existence everywhere in Palestine: the denial of Palestinian refugees’ right to return, land confiscation, home demolitions, ethnic cleansing, siege, apartheid, occupation and settler-colonialism.
Muhammed Allan’s situation is an emergency that requires mobilization and action by all, including the escalation of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel on all levels: economic, military, cultural, academic, as urged by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
Take Action: Demand freedom – not force feeding – for Muhammad Allan!
1. Sign on: Send a letter demanding Allan’s freedom, and that he not be force-fed. Israeli officials must hear the voice of the world demanding that this threat of torture be stopped, and that Allan, imprisoned without charge or trial, be freed.
2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. 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 issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
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. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.
