Muhammad Allan continues to struggle for his life and his freedom as pressure in Palestine and globally is mounting for his release after he fell into a coma and was placed on life support in the early morning of 14 August.
When Allan’s mother exited her son’s hospital room on Friday, she told reporters that “my son is dying,” reported the Electronic Intifada.
Allan’s worsening condition came following a rejection on Thursday of a request for his medical release. The Electronic Intifada noted that Ha’aretz had reported that the Israeli state “fears that such a move could encourage administrative detainees to follow Allan’s lead, especially after seven Palestinian detainees began their own respective hunger strikes over the past two weeks.”
This is particularly the case after Khader Adnan, another administrative detainee, won his release for the second time after a 55-day hunger strike. (He was released in 2012 after a 66-day hunger strike, also from administrative detention.) Adnan was released on 11 July. He participated today in the protest in Ramallah, one of many around Palestine, including outside Barzilai Hospital, in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus and elsewhere, demanding Allan’s immediate freedom.
Allan is charged with nothing and held on secret evidence; the ongoing imprisonment of Allan is clearly a political mechanism meant to undermine the hunger strike as a powerful tool of Palestinian political organizing inside the prisons.
At Barzilai Hospital, a number of Members of Knesset from the Joint List, Haneen Zoabi, Ahmad Tibi, Osama al-Saadi, Basil Ghattas, Talib Abu Arar and Jamal Zahalka, met with the prison administration and secured the admission of Palestinian Dr. Hani Abdeen to visit Allan in Barzilai, with the cooperation of the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Jamil al-Khatib, Allan’s lawyer, told Ma’an News that the Barzilai Medical Center in Israel has illegally put the detainee under anesthesia, saying that it is necessary for the hospital’s administration to receive the consent of his parents before giving him the anesthetic, adding that there were no sufficient reasons to do so.
Ma’an also reported that Palestinian former MK Talab al-Sane confronted the medical center’s director about providing Allan with intravenous salts and vitamins while he is unconsciousness, al-Sane describing the process as “manipulating his free will.”
Amnesty International, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Samidoun, American Muslims for Palestine, Inminds and other organizations issued new statements urging action to secure Allan’s release, while MK Tibi wrote a letter to the New York Times urging his freedom.
Addameer Statement on Mohammad Allan:
Administrative Detainee Mohammad Allan Loses Consciousness after 59 Days of Hunger Strike and Is Placed on Life Support
14 August 2015
Administrative detainee Mohammad Allan who has been on hunger strike for the past 59 days has lost consciousness this morning, Friday 14 August 2015, and was placed on life support devices by doctors in Barzilai hospital in Askalan. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association learntthat Allan’s health has deteriorated overnight and he eventually lost consciousness around 9 am this morning. Doctors reported to Allan’s mother and his lawyer that he was suffering from continuous shivering and seizures and was unable to breathe before he lost consciousness. Doctors then intervened urgently in light of Allan’s medical condition and proceeded to resuscitate him, placed him on a life supporting respirator and administered minerals and nutrients to his body. Allan remains in an unstable and critical condition.
Mohammad Allan started an open-ended hunger strike on the 16th of June 2015 in protest to the renewal of his administrative detention without trial for further six months in May. Israeli occupation authorities have refused Allan’s call, who is a lawyer himself, to be released and instead tried to coerce Allan to end his hunger strike.
Addameer condemns Israel’s actions towards Mohammad Allan and holds Israeli authorities liable for Allan’s current condition. Allan’s detention without charge or trial for the past 9 months violates international norms and standards that prohibit the systematic use of administrative detention by the occupying power and limit its use under the Fourth Geneva Convention for imperative security reasons and limits it within the confines of the fundamental guarantees of fair trial. Allan was denied a fair trial and placed under arbitrary detention without being informed of his charges or given the prospect to challenge his detention before a fair and independent judiciary.
Addameer further denounces Israel’s attempts to undermine the right of Palestinian prisoners and detainees to challenge the violations they face including the arbitrary detention without charge or trial through the peaceful protest means of hunger strikes. Israel has intentionally allowed Allan’s situation to deteriorate to this point and refused to end his arbitrary detention in an attempt to deprive Palestinian detainees from their fundamental right to peaceful protest and ban them from demanding justice, dignity and their basic rights as enshrined under the Geneva Convention and human rights treaties.
Moreover, Addameer condemns Israel’s escalation in prisons of the south (Nafha, Rimon, Eshel) this morning where several sections were closed and prisoners were banned from collectively holding the Friday prayer, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammad Allan and putting an end to his arbitrary administrative detention.
Physicians for Human Rights Statement on Muhammad Allan:
PHR-Israel response to reports on the loss of consciousness and treatment of the hunger striker Muhammad Allan:
“Once Allan lost consciousness, medical ethics requires that his doctors act in accordance to their understanding of the patient’s will and their discretion. PHR-Israel hopes and believes that the doctors in Barzilai Hospital have acted with respect and in accordance with Allan`s will.
The situation we are now facing could have been avoided. It was possible to hold a dialogue and reach an understanding that would have prevented this deterioration. It is time for the Israeli political leadership to reach a decision to release Allan from administrative detention and enable his doctors to concentrate in fighting for his life. “
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.
