There are currently 30 Palestinian prisoners on an open hunger strike to bring an end to administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial. They are putting their bodies and lives on the line to take a stand for freedom and against this arbitrary form of detention used to routinely attack Palestinian community, student, farmer and labor leaders. Join us this Friday, 30 September for a social media storm in support of Palestinian prisoners under the hashtag #EndAdministrativeDetention.
Friday, 30 September
10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 5 pm UTC – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine
Use the hashtag #EndAdministrativeDetention
Sample tweets and resources: https://bit.ly/ourdecisionisfreedom
Thirty Palestinian prisoners jailed without charge or trial under Israeli “administrative detention” have launched a hunger strike on Sunday, 25 September to demand an end to the policy, which is currently jailing over 740 Palestinian prisoners under “secret evidence.”
The Palestinian prisoners announced their hunger strike under the slogan “Our Decision is Freedom”, noting that they had rejected a request from the Zionist prison administration to postpone their action until Wednesday. They have now been moved into solitary confinement cells as a punishment for their brave stance for freedom. We will make clear: They are not alone!
There are currently approximately 780 Palestinian prisoners jailed under administrative detention orders out of a total of approximately 4,650 total Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails. Administrative detention was first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist project. Detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time on the basis of “secret evidence” denied to both the detainee and their lawyer. These orders are indefinitely renewable, with many Palestinians spending years at a time jailed under administrative detention, and neither they nor their families and communities are ever sure when they will be released, an additional form of collective punishment and psychological torture.
The first 30 administrative detainees who began the strike today are listed below, with additional prisoners scheduled to join in the battle as it continues. They include community leaders like Nidal Abu Aker and Ghassan Zawahreh, who have spent years in administrative detention; French-Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender Salah Hammouri, student organizers like Zaid Qaddoumi, and a number of others:
1. Nidal Abu Aker, 54, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 August 2022.
2. Ehab Masoud, 50, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 17 October 2021.
3. Asim Al Kaabi, 44, of Balata refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
4. Ahmed Hajjaj, 44, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
5. Thaer Taha, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 May 2022.
6. Rami Fadayel, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 5 September 2022.
7. Lotfi Salah, 43, of Bethlehem
8. Salah Hammouri, 37, of Jerusalem, imprisoned without charge or trial since 7 March 2022.
9. Ghassan Zawahreh, 40, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial since 19 August 2022.
10. Kanaan Kanaan, 30, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 August 2022.
11. Ashraf Abu Aram, 36, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 7 June 2021.
12. Ghassan Karajah, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 11 August 2022.
13. Saleh Abu Alia, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 March 2022.
14. Awad Kanaan, 32, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 2 February 2022.
15. Leith Kassaberah, 31, of Beit Anan, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 February 2022
16. Saleh Al-Jaidi, 30, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 August 2022.
17. Basil Mezher, 29, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 November 2021.
18. Majd Al-Khawaja, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 14 June 2022.
19. Jihad Shreiteh, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
20. Haitham Siyaj, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 November 2021.
21. Mustafa Al-Hasanat, 29, of Bethlehem, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 February 2022.
22. Azmi Shreiteh al Barghouthi, 23, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
23. Muhammad Abu Ghazi, 22, of Arroub refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 March 2022.
24. Ahmed Al-Kharouf, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 June 2022.
25. Nasrallah Barghouti, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention.
26. Muhammad Fuqaha, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
27. Tamer Al-Hajouj, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
28. Raghad Shamroukh, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 September 2022.
29. Zaid Qaddoumi, of Beit Jala, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 16 September 2022.
30. Senar Hamad, 20, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 18 April 2022.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle to join the campaign to end administrative detention and to support these valiant prisoners putting their bodies and lives on the line to resist and struggle for a liberated Palestine, through their hunger strike for freedom.
