Palestinians in Al-Khalil protested on Monday, 28 March, in support of the five Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, Sami Janazreh, Imad Batran, Abdul Rahim Sawayfeh, Nahar Saadi and Zaid Bseisi. Janazreh, Batran and Sawayfeh are all striking to demand their release from administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial; Saadi and Bseisi are striking to demand that Saadi and fellow Palestinian prisoners be released from solitary confinement.
A press conference at the solidarity event highlighted the family and children of Janazreh, 43, a Palestinian refugee living in al-Fuwwar camp in al-Khalil, and representatives of various Palestinian organizations and political parties. Ahmad Najjar of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in al-Khalil, said that hunger strikes are an ongoing battle inside the occupation prisons because of the severe oppression of the prison administration. Janazreh has been on hunger strike for 27 days; he has been imprisoned in the Naqab desert tent prison since 15 November 2015. Earlier this month, the Israeli occupation issued a new four-month administrative detention order against Janazreh, who, as a former prisoner, has spent nearly nine years total inside Israeli jails.
Abdel-Alim Da’na, former prisoner, father of administrative detainee Bashar Da’na and leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that “the ongoing policy of administrative detention is the result of the failure of the international community and international mechanisms to curb the Israeli state’s violations of the prisoners’ rights.” He urged escalating solidarity actions in Palestine and internationally with Janazreh and his fellow strugglers against administrative detention.
Ibrahim Najajreh of the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission echoed the call for a broader mass movement against administrative detention, while Fahmi Zarir of Fateh urged greater media coverage of Janazreh’s strike, pointing out that as a youth he participated in the first intifada, then the second and now is imprisoned once again.
