Save Khader Adnan: Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 72 days on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

17 April 2023

Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for the past 72 days, has reached a very dangerous and critical health condition as of 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. Despite — or perhaps because of — the severity of his health condition, the occupation courts once again delayed a hearing on his case and potential release from Monday, 17 April until Thursday, 20 April.

He began his hunger strike at the moment of his arrest on 5 February 2023 and has continued since that time; he has not once broken his fast during Ramadan. He has won his freedom four times before in hunger strikes against administrative detention; this time, he is facing an even more difficult struggle because he is fighting against the imposition of unjust “charges” in the Israeli military courts. These charges — of “incitement” for his public statements and speeches and membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement — are clearly political in nature and an attempt to target him for his activity, particularly in defense of fellow Palestinian prisoners. By carrying out his hunger strike despite the imposition of charges, he is defying the unjust “military court” regime targeting Palestinian civilians under occupation that convicts over 99% of Palestinians brought before them.

Palestinian organizations have confirmed that Khader Adnan is at risk of death at any moment, while the occupation authorities refuse to deal with his demand for freedom. He is refusing to take supplements or any kind of medical treatment or medical examinations; instead, he is insistent that his sole demand is liberation.

The following video, by Alexandra Dols, an excerpt from “Beyond the Frontlines,” highlights Adnan’s 2015 hunger strike for freedom. In the video, Adnan speaks about his experience, his goals and his struggle for liberation:

Adnan is currently being held in the Ramle prison clinic in a cell fitted with surveillance cameras. Jailers repeatedly storm and invade his cell as yet another form of pressure intended to make him end his hunger strike. He has not been transferred to a civilian hospital, a policy and practice that is being repeated among multiple hunger strikers as a means of discouraging, sabotaging and retaliating against Palestinian prisoners for going on strike, even after their health has seriously deteriorated. The occupation has refused to provide him with clothes since he launched the strike, or access to the shower; he is still wearing the same clothes in which he was arrested.

Khader Adnan previously wrote his will, as the risk of his martyrdom increases on a daily basis:

*In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful*
*The Almighty said: “Verily those who say, “Our Lord is Allah,” and remain firm (on that Path),- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve and never will Allah grant to the disbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, for granting me the ability to strike for freedom. Praise be to Allah for His countless blessings, and prayers and peace be upon the master of creation, the beloved of truth, our prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace.

I am sending you these words of mine, as my flesh has melted, my bones have gnawed, and my strength has weakened from my imprisonment in the beloved, authentic Palestinian city Al-Ramla. This is my will to my family, my children, my wife, and my people.

My wife, I council you and my children to fear Him (Allah), the Most High, to cling to His firm rope, to dispense with His bounty from others, to speak the truth in every time and place, to uphold ties of kinship, to pray and to pay Zakat (almsgiving), to preserve Allah‘s sanctities, and His right to our situation, money, movement, residence, and knowledge. The best homes in Palestine are the homes of martyrs, prisoners, the wounded and the righteous.

I entrust the uncles, aunts, relatives and neighbors to you; everyone who has a right over us. I entrust you with not leaving anyone with a debt over me, moral or material, for your love (me) is most in need of His mercy. If it is my martyrdom, do not allow the occupier to dissect my body, bury me near my father and write on my grave “here (lies) the poor servant of Allah Khader Adnan, your prayers for him, his parents, and Muslims everywhere”. Make it a simple grave, and ask Allah for forgiveness, mercy, consolidation, and the breadth of my grave, and to make our graves a garden of paradise, not pits from the pits of Hell, and that He accepts all our deeds purely for His honorable face.

Mother of Abd al-Rahman (my wife) and the children, Ma‘ali, Bisan, Abd al-Rahman, Muhammad, Ali, Hamza, Maryam, Omar and Zainab. Forgive me and my brothers Abu Adnan, Abu Anas, Umm Nour and all the uncles, uncles, relatives, friends, and neighbors for any shortcomings from me on your side as I leave this temporary life, but make sure that I have not been distracted from you except by Allah’s permission for duty.

O our proud people, I send you this commandment of greetings and love, and I am full of confidence in His mercy, victory, and empowerment.
My greetings to our commanders, the families of the martyrs and the prisoners, and my greetings to them and to all the revolutionaries.
Your loving husband, Umm Abd al-Rahman; your loving father, my children; your loving brother, my brothers; your loving son, our people.
I pray that Allah accepts me as a martyr loyal to His honorable face.
Your love, Khader Adnan

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes that this is an urgent time for international action, media efforts, popular protests and mobilization to save the life of Khader Adnan and win his freedom, and that of his fellow political prisoners. He is resisting with all available to him behind bars, putting his body and life on the line for freedom. The Zionist occupation and its prison administration are fully responsible for his current situation and any further deterioration to and threats to his life and health. We note that the U.S., European, British, Canadian and other governments that continue to provide military, economic and diplomatic support to the Israeli occupation regime are complicit in the ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners and Khader Adnan in particular.

In this context, we particularly highlight the actions of the German state, first in the Berlin police’s ban of demonstrations and events marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 15 and 16 April, and renewed again on 17 April, and in the repression of demonstrators in Cologne on 15 April for their slogans in defense of the Palestinian people and their resistance. This is a clear attempt to silence the voice of popular movements, both internationalists in Germany and in particular the Palestinian community in exile and diaspora, for Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners.

Khader Adnan working at his bakery in the West Bank Village of Qabatiya near Jenin, June 21, 2013. Photo via Alexandra Dols.

Take action:

1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations, direct actions and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance. There is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people. Direct actions like those taken by Palestine Action have already shut down multiple weapons facilities in Britain owned by Israeli arms companies, and even more action can provide further direct support to the Palestinian people.

2. Take a stand against “twinning” with Israeli occupation cities – Recently, the city of Barcelona took a strong stand against the normalization of occupation after years of campaign work by thousands of residents of the city, as all collaboration with the Israeli occupation and the “sister city” relationship with Tel Aviv were suspended by the Mayor. This important victory comes as the Collectif Palestine Vaincra is leading a campaign in Toulouse, France, to bring an end to that city’s “sister city” relationship with the apartheid capital. If your city has a twinning relationship with the occupation, launch your own campaign to bring that arm of complicity to an end!

3. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.

Use these signs below in your actions and campaigns, and send us your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or via email at [email protected].

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