Two Palestinian prisoners, former long-term hunger striker Anas Shadid, 22, and Dirar Abu Manshar, 40, are continuing their hunger strikes in Israeli jails in protest of administrative detention. As Shadid entered his 21st day of hunger strike, he was taken to Ramle prison hospital after the further deterioration of his health.
Anas Shadid launched his hunger strike on 19 July after the renewal of his administrative detention; he has been jailed since 14 July 2017 after he was rearrested only a month after winning his release from a previous imprisonment without charge or trial. He previously conducted an 88-day hunger strike in 2016 to win his release. After nearly 20 days on hunger strike, Shadid’s health is deteriorating. He suffers from severe headaches, dizziness, lack of balance and has lost 15 kilograms in weight. He has been held in isolation since he launched his hunger strike.
Dirar Abu Manshar launched his own hunger strike on 26 July to protest his administrative detention; he has been jailed without charge or trial since 9 June 2017 and launched his strike after the third renewal of his detention order. He has spent over 8 years in Israeli jails, many of them in administrative detention; in 2012, he was named the longest-held administrative detainee at that time as he had been jailed for three years without charge or trial. Abu Manshar is the father of four.
Hassan Shokeh, 30, suspended his hunger strike after 62 days on Friday, 3 August after reaching an agreement with the Israeli prison administration. In the agreement, Shokeh’s administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – will be extended for two more months and he will be released on 1 December 2018.
He has been jailed since 1 October 2017, when occupation forces invaded his home. This arrest came only one month after he was released after 2 years in administrative detention without charge or trial. He launched his first hunger strike, which ended when his case was transferred to the military courts. However, after serving his sentence which expired on 1 June, he was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. He has spent over 8 years in Israeli jails in total, many of them under administrative detention.
In addition, Bassam Abidu, 47, from al-Khalil, suspended his own open hunger strike after reaching an agreement to end his administrative detention in January 2019. After 19 days of hunger strike, Abidu’s father said, he suspended the strike; his detention will be renewed on 25 September for a final four months. He is the father of six children and has previously spent around 7 1/2 years in Israeli jails. He has been held without charge or trial since 30 May 2018.
The hunger strikes form part of an ongoing collective protest against administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. There are around 450 Palestinians held under administrative detention orders, which are issued on the basis of “secret evidence” for one to six months at a time. The orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians can spend years at a time jailed under administrative detention orders. Administrative detention is frequently used to target political leaders like parliamentarian, feminist and leftist Khalida Jarrar and human rights defenders like French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri.
In protest, Palestinians have refused to attend the military court sessions which approve administrative detention orders or their renewals since February 2018. They are continuing the court boycott and escalating their protests through ongoing hunger strikes.
Nevertheless, the Israeli occupation continues to resort to administrative detention in order to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial. Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud Halabi said that the Israeli military courts renewed 49 administrative detention orders between 19 July and 31 July.
Among them was a three-month administrative detention order against 17-year-old child prisoner Laith Abu Kharma, who has been immprisoned without charge or trial since 20 September 2017. Laith, from Kafr Ein near Ramallah, is one of three minor children held in administrative detention; there are over 300 Palestinian children overall currently in Israeli jails. Ahmad Salah from Jalazone camp and Hussam Abu Khalifa from Bethlehem are both also minors jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.
The administrative detention orders against Palestinian youth activists Saleh al-Jaidi of Dheisheh Camp and Tareq Mattar of Ramallah were also renewed by occupation forces. Both Jaidi and Mattar are well-known Palestinian youth who seem to be held under administrative detention in an attempt to undermine or prevent youth organizing in Palestine.
Also among this group of administrative detention orders was a renewal order against Khaled al-Tabeesh, 28, from the village of Dura in al-Khalil. Khaled is the brother of Ayman al-Tabeesh, 36, who has been jailed without charge or trial since August 2016 and has engaged in multiple long-term hunger strikes through several arrest periods. During his current stint in administrative detention, he has spent an extensive amount of time in isolation. Khaled, on the other hand, was arrested on 25 July 2017 and has now joined his brother for over a year of imprisonment without charge or trial.
The 49 administrative detention orders issued in the second half of July 2018 targeted the following Palestinian prisoners:
1. Hamdi Marouf al-Atrash, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
2. Hassan Hisham Hamdan, Nablus, 6 months, new order
3. Karim Ahmed Ayyad, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
4. Ahmed Kayed Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
5. Ahmed Musa al-Khatib, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
6. Ribhi Talib Shahwan, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
7. Mohammed Imad al-Shahatit, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
8. Muayad Rifat Kanaan, Jerusalem, 4 months, extension
9. Hani Mohammed Mafarjeh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
10. Mohammed Nazmi Jamal, 4 months extension
11. Islam Omar al-Tamimi, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
12. Mahmoud Jamil Shafar, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
13. Hammad Ahmed Abu Maria, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
14. Marcel Adel Assi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
15. Khader Mohammed al-Dalu, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
16. Bassam Abdel-Rahman Abu Aker, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
17. Khaled Jamal Farraj, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
18. Uday Jihad Amour, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
19. Mumen Ahmad Zeid, Ramallah, 5 months, new order
20. Adel Mohammed Khadour, Ramallah, 3 months, new order
21. Khaled Mohammed al-Haj, Jenin, 4 months, extension
22. Salem Mohammed Abu Eid, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
23. Thaer Yousef Hamdan, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
24. Hamza Abdel-Fattah Manasra, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
25. Mehdi Hassan Salah, Jenin, 6 months, new order
26. Abdel-Rahman Ayoub Adgheish, Ramallah, 3 months, new order
27. Sayel Saleh Rayyan, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
28. Khaled Jamil Daddou’, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
29. Mohammed Jibril Omar, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
30. Ahmed Ishaq Abu Hashhash, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
31. Khaled Ali Suleiman al-Tabeesh, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
32. Bassam Nabil Diab, Jenin, 4 months, extension
33. Yousef Mustafa Kaabneh, Jericho, 4 months, new order
34. Ahmed Jibril Makhamra, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
35. Fahmi Hassan Zuhour, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
36. Mustafa Essam Mustafa, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
37. Emad Hamdi Abu Khalaf, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
38. Montasser Issa Shedid, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
39. Ahmed Qassem al-Sheikh, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
40. Asid Mohammed Abu Aadi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
41. Mehdi Mahmoud Hajjar, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
42. Laith Imad Abu Kharma, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
43. Tarek Yousef Matar, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
44. Saleh Mohammed Jaidi, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
45. Musa Mustafa Najjar, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
46. Tareq Fadel al-Sheikh, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
47. Timur Hisham Barghouthi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
48. Ziad Mohammed Nawaja, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
49. Yazan Eyad Hanisha, Jenin, 4 months, new order
