Imprisoned Palestinian activist and former hunger striker Khader Adnan was denied a visit with his children on 19 March after his family were told that he was being transferred from Megiddo to Ramon prison. Randa Adnan, his wife, said that the International Committee of the Red Cross called the family to say that the children’s visit was cancelled.
Adnan, 39, from the village of Arraba, is well-known for his long-term hunger strikes that twice won his release from administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial. He was re-arrested once again on 11 December 2017 after a large force of occupation soldiers invaded the family home in a violent raid, throwing him on the ground. He launched a hunger strike immediately upon his arrest after being threatened again with administrative detention; his case was then transferred to the Israeli military courts.
He has been denied family visits from his wife and his father since he was seized by occupation forces; only his six children have been allowed to see him, accompanied by the relatives of other prisoners. The family has been prohibited from bringing him clothing other than the prison uniform to wear during that time and have been unable to bring his glasses.
Adnan’s military court hearing has been continued multiple times; most recently, the Salem military court set his next hearing on 16 April, along with that of Islamic Jihad leader Tariq Qa’adan.
Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement announced that they will escalate protest actions in early April if fellow prisoner Ayman al-Tabeesh, 37, from the village of Dura near al-Khalil, is not released from isolation. Al-Tabeesh, a former long-term hunger striker who has been currently imprisoned without charge or trial since 2 August 2016 under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders, is separated from his fellow Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells.
Prisoners stated that they may launch an open hunger strike to end al-Tabeesh’s isolation. He has been isolated in Ramon prison and denied family visits for two months on unsubstantiated and unspecified allegations of posing a “threat to the security of the area.” He has spent a total of 13 years in Israeli prison through multiple arrests.
Al-Tabeesh’s administrative detention was renewed for another four months on Saturday, 25 March, and he was issued a visitation ban for the same period at the same time. In a letter, al-Tabeesh said:
“In a sham court, the director of the Ramon prison informed me that he had extended my prohibition on receiving visits until 23 July 2018. It is odd, because the Shabak issues permits to my family to visit me. Then they tell me that the Shin Bet is restricting me from visitation. This is an attempt to increase the psychological pressure, especially on the parents and families. Several days ago, the Red Cross told the mother of a prisoner isolated beside me that her visit would be allowed, the mother of the prisoner Ismail al-Arouj from Bethlehem. But when his mother arrived with the family to the prison door she was informed that the visit was banned, and that his prohibition on visits was extended for an additional three months.”
