Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike against imprisonment without charge or trial

At least two Palestinian prisoners are currently engaged in a hunger strike against their detention by Israeli occupation forces without charge or trial.

Raafat Shalash, 34, of Beit Awwa near al-Khalil is on hunger strike for the ninth day in protest of his administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.  He has been imprisoned since 17 January 2016 without charge or trial under administrative detention. His administrative detention has been extended repeatedly since that time. He is married with three children. Shalash previously spent two years in Israeli prison and his two brothers, Mohammed and Yousri Shalash, are also imprisoned. On Thursday, 23 March, he was transferred to isolation in the Negev desert prison.

Also on hunger strike is Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Saada, 41, from the village of Huwarra in Nablus. He has been striking for 12 days, reported his lawyer. He is being held under interrogation and has been held for 36 days in the Jalame detention center; he is demanding his release.

Akram al-Fassisi, former long-term hunger striker held under administrative detention, suspended his hunger strike after the Israeli military prosecutor agreed that his detention will not be renewed, on 23 March. He has spent five and a half years in prison under various arrests, most of them under administrative detention. He carried out hunger strikes for 58 days and 70 days in 2013 and 2014, respectively, against his previous imprisonment under administrative detention without charge or trial.