Muhammad Allan continues to struggle for his life and his freedom as pressure in Palestine and globally is mounting for his release after he fell into a coma and was placed on life support in the early morning of 14 August.

When Allan’s mother exited her son’s hospital room on Friday, she told reporters that “my son is dying,” reported the Electronic Intifada.

Allan’s worsening condition came following a rejection on Thursday of a request for his medical release. The Electronic Intifada noted that Ha’aretz had reported that the Israeli state “fears that such a move could encourage administrative detainees to follow Allan’s lead, especially after seven Palestinian detainees began their own respective hunger strikes over the past two weeks.”

This is particularly the case after Khader Adnan, another administrative detainee, won his release for the second time after a 55-day hunger strike. (He was released in 2012 after a 66-day hunger strike, also from administrative detention.) Adnan was released on 11 July. He participated today in the protest in Ramallah, one of many around Palestine, including outside Barzilai Hospital, in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus and elsewhere, demanding Allan’s immediate freedom.

Allan is charged with nothing and held on secret evidence; the ongoing imprisonment of Allan is clearly a political mechanism meant to undermine the hunger strike as a powerful tool of Palestinian political organizing inside the prisons.

At Barzilai Hospital, a number of Members of Knesset from the Joint List, Haneen Zoabi, Ahmad Tibi, Osama al-Saadi, Basil Ghattas, Talib Abu Arar and Jamal Zahalka, met with the prison administration and secured the admission of Palestinian Dr. Hani Abdeen to visit Allan in Barzilai, with the cooperation of the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Jamil al-Khatib, Allan’s lawyer, told Ma’an News that the Barzilai Medical Center in Israel has illegally put the detainee under anesthesia, saying that it is necessary for the hospital’s administration to receive the consent of his parents before giving him the anesthetic, adding that there were no sufficient reasons to do so.

Ma’an also reported that Palestinian former MK Talab al-Sane confronted the medical center’s director about providing Allan with intravenous salts and vitamins while he is unconsciousness, al-Sane describing the process as “manipulating his free will.”

Amnesty International, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Samidoun, American Muslims for Palestine, Inminds and other organizations issued new statements urging action to secure Allan’s release, while MK Tibi wrote a letter to the New York Times urging his freedom.

Addameer Statement on Mohammad Allan:

Administrative Detainee Mohammad Allan Loses Consciousness after 59 Days of Hunger Strike and Is Placed on Life Support

14 August 2015
Administrative detainee Mohammad Allan who has been on hunger strike for the past 59 days has lost consciousness this morning, Friday 14 August 2015, and was placed on life support devices by doctors in Barzilai hospital in Askalan. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association learntthat Allan’s health has deteriorated overnight and he eventually lost consciousness around 9 am this morning. Doctors reported to Allan’s mother and his lawyer that he was suffering from continuous shivering and seizures and was unable to breathe before he lost consciousness. Doctors then intervened urgently in light of Allan’s medical condition and proceeded to resuscitate him, placed him on a life supporting respirator and administered minerals and nutrients to his body. Allan remains in an unstable and critical condition.

Mohammad Allan started an open-ended hunger strike on the 16th of June 2015 in protest to the renewal of his administrative detention without trial for further six months in May. Israeli occupation authorities have refused Allan’s call, who is a lawyer himself, to be released and instead tried to coerce Allan to end his hunger strike.

Addameer condemns Israel’s actions towards Mohammad Allan and holds Israeli authorities liable for Allan’s current condition. Allan’s detention without charge or trial for the past 9 months violates international norms and standards that prohibit the systematic use of administrative detention by the occupying power and limit its use under the Fourth Geneva Convention for imperative security reasons and limits it within the confines of the fundamental guarantees of fair trial. Allan was denied a fair trial and placed under arbitrary detention without being informed of his charges or given the prospect to challenge his detention before a fair and independent judiciary.

Addameer further denounces Israel’s attempts to undermine the right of Palestinian prisoners and detainees to challenge the violations they face including the arbitrary detention without charge or trial through the peaceful protest means of hunger strikes. Israel has intentionally allowed Allan’s situation to deteriorate to this point and refused to end his arbitrary detention in an attempt to deprive Palestinian detainees from their fundamental right to peaceful protest and ban them from demanding justice, dignity and their basic rights as enshrined under the Geneva Convention and human rights treaties.

Moreover, Addameer condemns Israel’s escalation in prisons of the south (Nafha, Rimon, Eshel) this morning where several sections were closed and prisoners were banned from collectively holding the Friday prayer, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammad Allan and putting an end to his arbitrary administrative detention.

Physicians for Human Rights Statement on Muhammad Allan:

PHR-Israel response to reports on the loss of consciousness and treatment of the hunger striker Muhammad Allan:
“Once Allan lost consciousness, medical ethics requires that his doctors act in accordance to their understanding of the patient’s will and their discretion. PHR-Israel hopes and believes that the doctors in Barzilai Hospital have acted with respect and in accordance with Allan`s will.
The situation we are now facing could have been avoided. It was possible to hold a dialogue and reach an understanding that would have prevented this deterioration. It is time for the Israeli political leadership to reach a decision to release Allan from administrative detention and enable his doctors to concentrate in fighting for his life. “

Take Action: Demand freedom – not force feeding – for Muhammad Allan!

1. Sign on: Send a letter demanding Allan’s freedom, and that he not be force-fed. Israeli officials must hear the voice of the world demanding that this threat of torture be stopped, and that Allan, imprisoned without charge or trial, be freed.

2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area.  Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

Amnesty International issued the following urgent action alert calling for the release of Palestinian hunger striker Muhammed Allan after 60 days of hunger strike, as he has entered a coma.

URGENT ACTION
Release Palestinian lawyer on hunger strike
Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Allan has been on hunger strike since 16 June in protest at his detention. He has been held by Israeli authorities without charge or trial since 6 November 2014. The reasons for his arrest and detention remain unknown. He lost consciousness on 14 August and is at risk of being forcibly fed.

Mohammed Allan, 31, was arrested from his home in Einabus village, in the occupied West Bank, by Israeli security forces on 6 November 2014. He was handcuffed and taken to his office in the city of Nablus, in the West Bank, and ordered to show files of clients he had represented. He was handed a six-month administrative detention order on 11 November. The Israeli authorities have not given any reasons to Mohammed Allan or his lawyer for his arrest and detention. His administrative detention was renewed for another six months on 5 May. He began a hunger strike on 16 June to demand an end to his detention. According to Palestinian human rights NGO Addameer, since the beginning of his hunger strike he has only consumed water.

The Israeli Prison Service informed Mohammed Allan’s lawyer on 7 August of their intention to submit a request to the Israeli District Court to authorize his force-feeding under new legislation allowing force-feeding of hunger-striking detainees. However, statements made by Israeli politicians, including the one responsible for promoting the bill, indicate it is particularly aimed at Palestinian detainees.

On 10 August, he was transferred to the intensive care unit of Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, Israel. Later that day, as medical staff refused to force-feed him, he was moved to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, Israel. Mohammed Allan continued to refuse medical examination and was chained to his hospital bed by a hand and a foot, despite being too weak to stand. It was reported on 14 August that he had lost consciousness.

Mohammed Allan told his lawyer on 12 August that he does not want to die, but to live a life of dignity.

Please write immediately in English, Hebrew or your own language:

• Calling on the Israeli authorities to end the use of administrative detention and release Mohammed Allan and all other administrative detainees unless they are promptly charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence and brought to trial in proceedings which meet international standards;
• Stressing that as a general rule hunger strikers should not be forcibly fed, and any decision on non-consensual feeding should be made only by qualified health professionals and only for reasons of medical necessity; the authorities must never require health professionals to act in any way contrary to their professional judgment or medical ethics, which essentially preclude compulsory feeding of mentally competent hunger strikers.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 25 SEPTEMBER 2015 TO:
Director General, Ministry of Health
Moshe Bar Siman Tov
2 Ben-Tabai St.
P.O.B. 1176
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 623 3026
Email: mankal@moh.health.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Director General

Minister of Public Security
Gilad Erdan
Kiryat Hamemshala
PO Box 18182
Jerusalem 91181, Israel
Fax: +972 2 584 7872
Email: gerdan@knesset.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister

And copies to:
Military Judge Advocate General
Brigadier General Danny Efroni
6 David Elazar Street
Hakirya, Tel Aviv,
Israel
Fax: +972 3 569 4526
Email: avi_n@idf.gov.il

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

Release Palestinian lawyer on hunger strike

Additional Information

Since Mohammed Allan started his hunger strike on 16 June he has refused all food, vitamins and minerals, drinking only water. After his condition worsened on 14 August and he lost consciousness, he was given minerals intravenously.

Administrative detention – ostensibly introduced as an exceptional measure to detain people who pose an extreme and imminent danger to security – has for years been used by Israel to detain a much wider range of people who should have been arrested, charged and tried in accordance with the normal laws of penal procedure, or against individuals who should not have been arrested at all. Orders can be renewed indefinitely and Amnesty International believes that some Palestinians held in administrative detention by Israel are prisoners of conscience, held solely for the non-violent exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association. The Israeli military withholds most of its evidence against administrative detainees, claiming this is for security reasons. This prevents detainees from challenging their detention.

Israel’s use of administrative detention of Palestinians is widespread and has led to mass hunger strikes by Palestinian detainees and prisoners, protesting also against their conditions. According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, at the end of June 2015 there were 370 Palestinians in administrative detention in Israeli Prison Service facilities. There are currently seven Palestinian prisoners and detainees on hunger strike, according to Addameer, a Palestinian NGO that advocates for prisoners’ rights. While administrative detention has rarely been used against Israeli nationals, three Israelis were recently placed under administrative detention orders following the killing of Palestinian father and child Ali and Saad Dawbashe in an arson attack on 1 August 2015. Amnesty International has consistently called for the Israeli authorities to end the use of administrative detention, as it violates the right to a fair trial.

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a law on 30 July 2015 that allows prisoners and detainees on hunger strike to be force-fed in extreme circumstances if it is authorized by a district court judge and subject to a medical report proving the individual is in a grave condition, even if the individual has not consented.

Statements made by the Israeli politician responsible for promoting the bill indicate that the main intent of the law is to avoid making concessions including releasing administrative detainees, rather than the health of the hunger striker. The Israel newspaper Haaretz on 14 June quoted Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan as saying, “security prisoners are interested in turning a hunger strike into a new type of suicide terrorist attack through which they will threaten the State of Israel. We will not allow anyone to threaten us and we will not allow prisoners to die in our prisons.”

Health care for prisoners should comply with international law and standards on the right to health and with medical ethics, including principles of confidentiality, autonomy, and informed consent (including the right to refuse treatment including feeding). Any decision whether to carry out non-consensual feeding of a hunger striker should be made only by qualified health professionals, and only for reasons of medical necessity; it must take account of the individual’s mental competence and wishes, as ascertained by health professionals in confidential consultations with the hunger striker. Medical ethics essentially preclude health professionals from compulsorily feeding mentally competent hunger strikers. Health professionals in prisons have responsibilities towards prison authorities as well as towards inmates, in particular those who are their patients, but the authorities must never require them to act in any way contrary to their professional judgment or medical ethics. Amnesty International opposes non-consensual feeding of hunger strikers without medical supervision, if it is done for reasons other than medical necessity or carried out in a manner that amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. No prisoner or detainee should be punished for being on hunger strike or subjected to coercion to end a hunger strike.

Name: Mohammed Allan
Gender m/f: m
UA: 181/15 Index: MDE 15/2282/2015 Issue Date: 14 August 2015

Muhammad Allan, the Palestinian lawyer held under administrative detention without charge or trial who has been on hunger strike for nearly two months, is in a critical medical condition. Allan, held in Barzilai hospital, is being threatened with force feeding under the new law passed by the Knesset last month, which has been widely condemned internationally. He is demanding his release from arbitrary administrative detention and pledging to continue his hunger strike until release.

Jawad Boulos, Palestinian lawyer, visited Allan noting that he is unable to rise from bed ans is nearly unable to see. Boulos also said that he was injured by the three guards surrounding Allan who are, he said “acting as if they were inside the prison, without the slightest concern for their presence in a hospital.”

Allan is in intensive care, consuming only water. Addameer lawyer Samer Sama’an reported that he is suffering blurred vision, hearing loss, fatigue, pain and numbness throughout his body. “Despite his very fragile and critical situation of, the Israeli Prison Service still insists to keep Mr. Allan shackled by foot and arm to what could potentially become his deathbed in a very inhumane treatment and gesture,” wrote Addameer.

Lawyer Abeer Baker has filed urgently for medical release for Allan following the Red Cross’s description of Allan as in critical condition at this time.

Take Action: Demand freedom – not force feeding – for Muhammad Allan!

1. Sign on: Send a letter demanding Allan’s freedom, and that he not be force-fed. Israeli officials must hear the voice of the world demanding that this threat of torture be stopped, and that Allan, imprisoned without charge or trial, be freed.

2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area.  Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

***

A statement from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, the Arab Association for Human Rights, the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, Adalah and Physicians for Human Rights is below, urging action to free Allan:

Call for Urgent Action
Palestinian Administrative Detainee on Hunger Strike in Critical Condition

The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, the Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel call for urgent action to save the life of Palestinian administrative detainee and attorney Mohammad Allan, who has been on hunger strike for 57 days in protest of his administrative detention without charge or trial since 6 November 2014. Mohammad Allan is currently detained in Barzilai hospital in Askalan. The Israeli Prison Services transferred Allan from Soroka hospital on 10 August after informing Allan’s lawyer of their intention to seek authorization to force-feed him, which was met by the refusal of the medical staff at Soroka hospital to carry out any forced examinations or treatment or Mr. Allan. Mahmoud Allan is currently in a dire physical state and in a very critical condition.

Adv. Samer Sama’an from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association visited Mr. Allan in Barizlai hospital on 12 August 2015. Mr. Allan confirmed that he seeks to live, but a life of dignity and freedom. He also reported to adv. Sama’an that he suffers from blurred vision, strong pressure in his ears, fatigue, general pain in the body, and numbness in the hands and feet. He experiences difficulty in movement and in signing papers. He also suffers from weakness in the hands and legs, difficulty in balance, and inability to stand. He also complains of the lack of ability to sleep in Barzilai hospital for extended hours. He continues to refuse to take medical examinations and is only taking water. Despite his very fragile and critical situation of, the Israeli Prison Service still insists to keep Mr. Allan shackled by foot and arm to what could potentially become his deathbed in a very inhumane treatment and gesture.

Mohammad Allan was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces on 6 November 2014 and has been under administrative detention since then. A six-month administrative detention order was issued following his arrest and was subsequently renewed in May 2015. After extending his administrative detention, Mohammad embarked on an open-ended hunger strike on the 16th of June 2015 in protest of his continued detention without trial.

The undersigned organizations warn that Mohammad Allan has reached a critically advanced medical condition and now may be nearing death. The continued arbitrary detention of Mohammad Allan under administrative detention violates international norms and standards as enshrined under the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits the systematic use of administrative detention by the occupying power against protected persons and limits its use for imperative security reasons and according to legal procedures which guarantee the right of a fair trial. The continued detention of Mohammad Allan endangers his life and violates his most basic rights to fair trial and human dignity.

The undersigned organizations further stress that any forced treatment, coercion or feeding of hunger striker Mohammad Allan while he is conscious and mentally competent constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Any medical coercion on Allan despite his refusal may cause the opposite effect and result in severe health problems and even potentially jeopardize Allan’s life, as evident in Israel’s previous attempts to force-feed Palestinian hunger strikers during the 1980s, which resulted in several deaths. Force-feeding violates medical ethics as it administers forceful treatment to a patient against his will, and is considered a form of torture. The World Medical Association addressed the Prime Minister of Israel, stating the following: “Force-feeding is violent, very painful and absolutely in opposition to the principle of individual autonomy. It is a degrading, inhumane treatment, amounting to torture. But worse, it can be dangerous and is the most unsuitable approach to save lives.” Article 7 of the 1975 World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo explicitly states that doctors are not allowed to force-feed hunger strikers.

The undersigned organizations condemn Israel’s policy to allow the deterioration in the health condition of Mohammad Allan and refusing to negotiate his release in an attempt to escalate the current situation so as to proceed with force-feeding Mr. Allan and to undermine the use of hunger strikes as a non-violent form of protest by Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have no other means to protest and bring attention to the flagrant human rights violations they face in Israeli prisons. Depriving Palestinian detainees and prisoners from their fundamental right to peaceful protest by the means of hunger strikes is a major setback to the just demands of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons who are demanding justice, dignity and basic rights.

We hereby urge immediate action including writing to relevant authorities, decision-makers, international bodies, diplomatic missions, and United Nations representative offices and agencies to pressure Israeli authorities to stop the use of administrative detention, to dismiss their plans to force-feed Mr. Allan and to put an end to his arbitrary detention in blatant violation of international human rights and humanitarian law guarantees and standards– in order to save his life.

– See more at: http://www.addameer.org/news/palestinian-administrative-detainee-hunger-strike-critical-condition-1#sthash.tTibOAZs.dpuf