Israeli occupation military court rejects appeal of Nidal Abu Aker against administrative detention

Nidal Abu Aker upon his release from Israeli prison in 2015; he was re-arrested eight months later.

The Israeli occupation military court at Ofer rejected the appeal of Palestinian prisoner and community leader Nidal Abu Aker, 50, of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem against the renewal of his administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, for an additional six months.

Abu Aker has been imprisoned since 9 August 2016 after occupation forces violently invaded his home; he has previously spent over 13 years in Israeli prison over various periods, mostly in administrative detention, and most recently won his release in 2015 after a hunger strike of 40 days, with four other Palestinian administrative detainees.

He is a community leader in Dheisheh camp, a prominent Palestinian leftist and a journalist who broadcasts a program about Palestinian prisoners on Wihda Radio (Unity Radio), the only radio station broadcasting from a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

Abu Aker’s son, Mohammed Abu Aker, a university student, is also imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces. The appeal was rejected based on a “secret file” that allegedly indicates he poses a “threat to the security” of the occupation, including his leadership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.