The following call to action was distributed by the National Lawyers Guild in the United States. Its Palestine Subcommittee sent this letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro:

The National Lawyers Guild Palestine Subcommittee urges the immediate release of hunger-striking Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, held in Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial. Al-Qeeq has now been on hunger strike for 85 days and is in extremely critical condition; he has lost consciousness on multiple occasions, has lost his ability to speak and most of his hearing. He is at risk of multiple organ failure at any time.

Al-Qeeq, 33, is a correspondent for Al-Majd TV. He was arrested on November 21, 2015 and subjected to stress positions and verbal abuse under lengthy interrogationsthat constitute cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment amounting to torture. He originally began his hunger strike in protest of torture; he continued the strike when he was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial, confirmed by the Ofer Israeli military court on December 24, 2015.

Al-Qeeq is one of over 670 Palestinians held under administrative detention without charge or trial, on the basis of secret evidence. Under international human rights law, administrative detention can only be used on a case-by-case basis for “imperative reasons of security.” Israel’s systematic use of administrative detention, under which approximately 10% of current Palestinian prisoners are currently held, violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Al-Qeeq’s administrative detention was presumably “suspended” by the Israeli High Court on February 4; he continued his hunger strike as this suspension did not free him or address his opposition to being held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Yesterday, February 16, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected al-Qeeq’s petition to be moved to a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah, where he would accept treatment, which indicates once again that he clearly remains a prisoner held without charge and without trial, in an increasingly severe health crisis.

We emphasize that Israel bears the full responsibility for the life and health of Al-Qeeq by continuing to hold him without charge or trial under administrative detention and refusing to release him or even to transfer him to a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank.

Al-Qeeq is also threatened by the danger of forced feeding and forced treatment. While Al-Qeeq has not yet been forcibly fed and has signed a statement rejecting all medical treatment, he remains threatened by the practice, which was legalized in July 2015 by the “Law to Prevent Harm Caused by Hunger Strikers.” Forced feeding is rejected by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Medical Association and the World Health Organization, and is a form of torture – one that is also used by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.

Al-Qeeq has been forcibly treated twice since he was moved to HaEmek Hospital in Afula on December 30, 2015. As noted by Addameer, the Palestinian human rights organization, “forced treatment…and coerced medical examinations are a breach of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as it constitutes an act that contravenes the human dignity of detainees and prisoners.”

The NLG Palestine Subcommittee urges the immediate release of Mohammed Al-Qeeq from administrative detention and reiterates the call of its 2014 delegation to Palestine to immediately end the practice of administrative detention. (Read the full report here.)

Furthermore, the NLG calls for the overturn of the “Law to Prevent Harm Caused by Hunger Strikers,” legalizing force-feeding, and also reiterates its demand that the U.S. government end its use of force-feeding and hold those responsible for the torture of detainees accountable. We also reiterate our call for the U.S. government to end its aid to Israel due to its gross and systemic violations of Palestinian human rights, ongoing occupation of Palestinian land, and racist, apartheid structure.

The NLG Palestine Subcommittee urges members and supporters to contact the White House and demand Al-Qeeq’s freedom, and contact your member of Congress and urge them to cut off U.S. aid to Israel because of its practices of administrative detention and torture.

Please call the White House (001-202-456-1111) now and tell Barack Obama to demand that Israel immediately free Mohammed Al-Qeeq.

You can find the telephone, fax and web contact information for your member of Congress at contactingthecongress.org. When calling your member of Congress, please keep the following points in mind:

• ·        Mohammed Al-Qeeq is held without charge or trial. He is one of approximately 670 Palestinians facing this violation of his rights today.
• ·        Force feeding, when practiced by the US or by Israel, is a form of inhumane and degrading treatment amounting to torture.
• ·        US aid to Israel directly funds the Israeli military responsible for the imprisonment of Al-Qeeq and the use of administrative detention.
• ·        The US should end its aid to Israel, because Israel is responsible for gross and systematic violations of Palestinian human rights, in this case through the policy of administrative detention.

Download the NLG letter to the U.S. State Department (click here)

The following statement was issued by the Phiippines-Palestine Friendship Association on 17 February, as Mohammed al-Qeeq enters his 85th day of hunger strike. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network also extends its strongest solidarity with the struggle of the people of the Philippines at all levels, and, in particular, joins the call to free all Filipino political prisoners:

The Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association stands in solidarity with Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, currently under illegal detention without defined charges and trial by the Israeli occupation forces, as he approaches the critical stage in his hunger-strike to obtain his complete and unconditional release.

Al-Qeeq was abducted by Israeli forces inside his home in Ramallah at 2:00 am on Nov. 21, 2015. He was shackled, blindfolded, left in the open air, interrogated for long hours, thrown in an isolation cell, and afterwards, served a six-month administrative detention order authorizing his continued incarceration. He has no access to charges against him, which are kept in classified files by Israel.

Al-Qeeq is now on his 91st day of hunger strike. He has lost over half his body weight, and is unable to see or talk properly; and appears to be close to death. Despite the urgency of his situation, Israeli authorities have adamantly refused his petition to seek medical treatment in a Palestinian hospital.

With his health rapidly deteriorating, the Israeli Supreme Court has been forced to “suspend” his administrative detention. Al-Qeeq, however, has rightly rejected the gesture as he is demanding his complete freedom and the cancellation of his administrative detention.

The illegal arrest and detention of al-Qeeq is part of the Israeli agenda to impede and gag journalists and activists from speaking publicly about Israel’s genocidal war in Palestine and the continued colonisation of their lands by illegal settlers.

Israel’s use of administrative detention is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Conventions which prohibit an occupying power from detaining members of the occupied population outside the occupied territory and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which requires it to inform those arrested of the reasons for the arrest at the time, promptly inform them of the charges against them, and provide a fair and public trial.

Currently, Israel is holding around 6,800, mostly political prisoners, and 660 of them are being held in administrative detention. The number of Palestinian journalists languishing in Israeli jails is at 17.

The harassment, silencing, and violation of rights of activists and journalists are experiences that Palestinians and Filipinos share as nations struggling against violent occupying powers.

According to the Philippine-based rights watchdog and PPFA steering committee member-organisation Karapatan (Rights), there have been 911 cases of illegal arrest and detention documented from 2010 to 2015 under Pres. Benigno Aquino’s term. Last Jan. 8, 2016 political prisoner and former peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) died in prison after succumbing to a heart attack. He had endured 11-long years in prison owing to false charges that the court eventually dismissed.

In 2015, Reporters without Borders ranked Philippines as 8th of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Since Aquino’s assumption as president in 2010, 26 journalists have been murdered according to Human Rights Watch.

We call on all Filipino peoples’ organisations, including human rights advocates and journalists, to voice out their outrage to Israel’s blatant disregard of al-Qeeq’s right to due process and to seek medical attention.

We call on all freedom loving citizens of the world to demand the release of all Palestinian and Filipino political prisoners.

Free Mohammed al-Qeeq! Free all Palestinian political prisoners!
Free all Filipino political prisoners!
From the Philippines to Palestine, occupation is a crime!