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Ayman Hamdan suspends hunger strike after 127 days

aymanhamdanAyman Hamdan suspended his hunger strike after 127 days following an agreement with Israeli prison administration that he will be released at the end of his current administrative detention period, announced Jawad Boulos of the Palestinian Prisoners Society on September 4. He has been on hunger strike since April 28 protesting his confinement without charge or trail under administrative detention.

Hamdan’s most recent detention order, on August 21, was reduced from six months to four months on August 27 at a hearing in Ofer Military Court. He has previously been held for 6 and one-half years in Israeli prisons.  Boulos said that Hamdan thanked all the organizations, institutions and people who supported him in his struggle.

Palestinian prisoners’ advocate Sami Hussein arrested by Israeli forces

sami-husseinSami Hussein, the director of the Follow-up Department at the Palestinian Prisoners Society, was seized by Israeli forces on Monday, September 2 at Jaba checkpoint near al-Ram and taken to an unknown location.

Hussein, 44, was recently released from Israeli custody after over a year in administrative detention without charge or trial. He has been detained on numerous occasions and served over 23 years in occupation prisons.

He was first imprisoned for four years, and then after his release, he was seized again and was imprisoned for 15 years, then from 2005 to the present, he has been repeatedly held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

 

Addameer: 5068 Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons

Addameer released its latest statistics on the numbers of Palestinian political prisoners currently held in Israeli jails, as of August 2013: 

Type of Prisoner Number of Prisoners
Total Number of Political Prisoners 5068
Administrative Detainees 134 (9 PLC members)
Female prisoners 13
Child prisoners 195 (36 under 16)
Palestinian Legislative Council members 13
East Jerusalem prisoners 180
1948 Territories prisoners 208
Gaza prisoners 422
Prisoners serving life sentences 514
Prisoners serving a sentence above 20 years 433
Prisoners serving more than 25 years 24
Prisoners serving more than 20 years 65
Prisoners before Oslo 79

* On 13 August 2013, 26 prisoners were released as a “good-will” measure in the newest round of negotiations. For more information, please read our latest factsheet here.

Prison authorities escalate use of transfers and raids against Palestinian prisoners

prison-cellFouad Al-Khuffash of the Ahrar centre for prisoners’ studies said that the Israeli Prison Service is again pursuing a policy of transferring Palestinian prisoners from one prison to another in order to disrupt prisoners lives and create chaos in the prisons, and in particular to destabilize the prisoners’ movement.

On September 3, Sheikh Jamal Abu el-Hija and his son were moved from Eshel prison to Shata prison; Mahmoud Issa was moved from Gilboa prison to Eshel; and Abdullah Barghouthi was moved from Shata prison to Eshel. Khuffash noted that Mahmoud Issa has not been kept in one prison for more than three months since his release from solitary confinement on May 17, 2012 as part of the agreement to end the mass prisoner Karama hunger strike.

In addition, Israeli forces have raided a number of prison blocs and units in the preceding days. On Monday, Israeli police stormed Section 1, Room 8 of Ramon prison, under the pretext of searching for mobile phones, and confiscated unrelated tools and electronic devices belonging to prisoners.

Amina Tawil of the Center for Prisoners’ Studies reported that in the past month there were 9 sudden raids of prisoners’ units, including 4 different sections in Negev prison, Section 5 Room 1 in Gilboa Prison, Section 12 in Nafha prison, Section 1 Room 1 in Ramon prison, rooms in Eshel prison, and Room 14 in Ashkelon prison. In each occasion prisoners’ belongings were ransacked and confiscated. The Center stated that these raids are part of an attempt to disorient and break prisoners’ will in order to disrupt and discourage prisoner organizing.

In addition, it was reported on Monday, September 2 that Nafha prison administration announced that prisoners serving sentences of under seven years will be transferred temporarily to the Negev prison, beginning with prisoners of the Fateh movement in section 10. The prison administration said that this is due to repairs, but the Palestine Center for Policy Studies reported that prisoners inside Nafha said that the primary goal of this is the search for mobile phones. In the same context, the Negev prison administration also announced the transfer of some prisoners to other sections under the pretext of repairs, as well as the closure of three sections in Negev prison and the transfer of those there to Ashkelon prison.

 

September 12, Oakland: Beyond Solidarity: Meeting the Standard of Joint Struggle as Set by Prisoner Hunger Strikers

Thursday, September 12
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Eastside Arts Alliance
2227 International Blvd @ 23rd Avenue
Oakland, CA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/441935469253978/

Join us for this event to mark the 5th anniversary of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network!

A discussion of how to build our unity, looking at the challenges and possibilities for building across movements for self determination and against policing, incarceration, and militarization.

featuring:
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike & IJAN
Nadia Barhoum, Palestinian Youth Movement
Sanyika Bryant, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee
Manuel LaFontaine, All of Us or None
Misty Rojo, California Coalition for Women Prisoners
Majeed Shihade, Birzeit University
Representative, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Representative, TGI Justice Project

Moderated by Sara Kershnar, IJAN and Lara Kiswani, Arab Resource and Organizing Center

oakland-sept12

September 13, London: Protest in solidarity with hunger striker Alaa Hammad & other 25 Jordanians in Israeli prisons

Inminds is organizing a protest in London on September 13 at the Royal Jordanian Airlines office, drawing attention to the struggles of Palestinian prisoners with Jordanian citizenship being held in Israeli prisons, including hunger striker Alaa Hammad.

Friday 13th September 4:30-6:30pm – Royal Jordanian Airlines
1 Beadon Road, London W60ER
Closest tube station : Hammersmith

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/225365090948407/

After 100 days on hunger strike 4 of the 5 Jordanian hunger strikers have suspended their strike after the Israeli prison service agreed to allow family visits for the first time. The hunger strikers didn’t achieve their objective of being freed or being returned to Jordan to serve their remaining sentences, but never the less it was a victory considering that some of them have not been allowed to see their families for 13 years.

All the men have lost around 30kg in weight and some have lost their ability to walk and are confined to wheelchairs. It was a torturous 100 days with the Israeli prison service putting immense pressure on the men to stop their strikes.
hammadprot
Mohammad Al-Rimawi, who suffers from a heart disorder where sometimes his heart beat is 125 and sometimes it drops to 50 beats per minute, was denied his medicine by the Israeli Prison Service until he agreed to stop his hunger strike. The day before he stopped – on his 99th day without food – on the eve of Eid, 5 soldiers shackled his hands and legs and threw him from his hospital bed to the ground and began savagely beating him with not a single Israeli doctor or nurse coming to his defense. The officers told Mohammad Al-Rimawi that they can treat him with violence and force with impunity because of lack of international attention on him and in particular Jordan who will not lift a finger to help him.

Two weeks before on 26th June 2013 the Israeli guards had brutally attacked Abdullah Al-Barghouti, again whilst he was in hospital – they dragged him from his hospital bed to the concrete floor and kicked him in the face leaving him bleeding. When a lawyer visited him on 7th August his condition remained critical, with problems with his liver, low blood pressure and constant migraines. Unable to walk, he is left shackled to his bed with threats of force feeding should he fall into a coma.

Under these conditions it was a miracle that the prisoners managed 100 days of hunger strike. That in itself was their victory. The defeat was ours – the prisoners gave activists around the world 100 days to mobilize and pressure the Jordanian government in to action.. but we failed them.

Now the only Jordanian prisoner still on hunger strike is Ala’ Hammad and his condition is very precarious. On 5 August Hammad fainted and remained unconscious for five hours, ignored by the Israeli doctors. After finally receiving treatment Hammad regained consciousness.

Currently there are 26 Jordanian citizens that Israel has confirmed are in its prisons and another 21 missing which Israel has not accounted for. There are also unmarked ‘numbered graves’ of Jordanians who have died in prison..

One of the 26 is the child prisoner Mohammad Mahdi Saleh Suleiman. Now 17 years old, he is the youngest Jordanian in an Israeli prison. He has been severely tortured at Al Jalame – the notorious Israeli children’s dungeon. One of the missing 21 Jordanians is Laith Al-Kinani, he has been missing for 6 years. Mohammed Mahdi’s father and Laith’s parents have protested everyday for the last three months in front of the Jordanian Parliament and Royal Palace with no response from the government.

There have been over 90 demonstrations in Jordan by the families of the prisoners – elderly mothers standing in the burning sun, at several protests each day! Even a 22km solidarity march from one city to another.. All of this falling on deaf ears with the Jordanian government shamefully abandoning the prisoners and according to some accounts even pressuring the prisoners to give up their hunger strike.

Terrified by the iron will of the families and friends of the hunger strikers to relentlessly carry on protesting everyday and the support and respect they garner in wider society and the resulting momentum building up to end the states total submission to every whim of the Zionist enemy, the Jordanian security services have come down very hard on the protesting families. Family members have been threatened with arrest if they persist to champion their loved ones in Israeli dungeons. They dragged away a 16 year old boy, a nephew of one of the hunger strikes, to prison and locked him up for 3 days – his crime was to hand out a leaflet about his uncles’ imprisonment in an Israeli prison. On another occasion, wearing military camouflage uniforms that have never seen service on the enemy front line, the security forces with batons drawn, attacked a peaceful protest with plain cloths security service personnel cowardly targeting hunger striker Muneer Meree’s brother, assaulting him before disappearing back behind the uniform lines.

Its with this backdrop of intimidation, that we made contact with activists in Jordan. The families and campaigners in Jordan courageously, at great personal risk to themselves, asked us to help internationalise the campaign by protesting in solidarity with them in London. Having protested twice outside the Jordanian Embassy in London we will now notch the campaign up a gear by targeting Jordanian interests in the UK starting on 19th August with a protest outside the Jordan International Bank in Knightsbridge, which is partly owned by the Jordanian government, and then on 13th September a protest outside the Royal Jordanian Airlines office in Hammersmith.

We will protest in solidarity with Ala’ Hammad’s continued hunger strike, and for the child prisoner Mohammad Mehdi Saleh Suleiman and for the missing son Laith Al-Kinani and for the release of all the Palestinian prisoners. Lets not fail them, please join us on both these protests.

Hunger Strikers’ Update: Administrative detention extended, Batran’s brother arrested

Carlos Latuff - 2012
Carlos Latuff – 2012

Hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Ayman al-Tabeesh, on strike since May 23, administrative detention order was extended again for four months on August 28; he is striking to demand his freedom. Mohammad al-Tabeesh, his brother, has been striking since June 12, and is held in Afula hospital. Mohammad launched his strike in solidarity with his brother.

Also held in Kaplan hospital is fellow hunger striker Adel Hareebat, who also launched his strike on May 23. Hareebat and al-Tabeesh reported that they are suffering from arbitrary repressive practices in the hospital including being denied time to pray.

Imad Batran, who had been on hunger strike since May 3, ended his hunger strike on August 20 after prison officials agreed to not seek extension of his administrative detention when it expires on November 15.  He will have spent two years in administrative detention by that date. However, on August 27, Israeli forces raided his brother’s shop in Al-Khalil and detained his brother Mohammad Batran. Mohammad has spent over 6 years in Israeli jails.

Ayman Hamdan has been on hunger strike since April 28 to protest his administrative detention without charge or trial. On August 14, his administrative detention was extended again; he was arrested on August 21, 2012. On August 27, that detention was announced to be extended for a four-month period. His lawyer is appealing the administrative detention order.

Also remaining on hunger strike are Abdul Majid Khdairat, who has been striking since July 1 and Alaa Hammad, one of the five Palestinian prisoners with Jordanian citizenship who continued his strike after the other four suspended them; he has been striking since May 2.

Hussam Matar suspends hunger strike after 90 days

matar-childreHunger striking Palestinian prisoner Hussam Matar, 30, announced the suspension of his hunger strike on Thursday, August 29, after 90 days of strike. His wife announced that Matar suspended his strike after the prison administration agreed to reconsider his life sentence and to allow him private visits with his family members, which he has been denied. Matar launched his open hunger strike in early June and suffered medical consequences of the strike, including kidney and liver problems. He lost over 32 kg during the hunger strike, was denied visits, and isolated in a small cell.

He is married with two children, Saqr, 7, and Nasrallah, 5. He was arrested on October 19, 2007 and is serving a life sentence.

Fellow striker Abdel Majid Khdairat is suffering from new health difficulties, including a kidney infection, breathing problems, and severe back pain. His strike began on July 1, and he has lost 27 kg since beginning his strike. Israeli prison guards punished Khdairat by not allowing any visits for 6 months and banned him from buying anything at the prison canteen.

Halahleh’s health continues to suffer

thaerhalahlehPalestinian prisoner Thaer Halahleh is suffering from worsening health, warned the Palestinian Prisoners club on August 29. Halahleh, a former hunger striker who was freed in 2012, was re-arrested in April 2013. He contracted the hepatitis C virus during a dental operation during his previous imprisonment in Israeli prisons where improper sterilization was used.

Halahleh is suffering from abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, and back pain, said the Club, who also said that Halahleh was not receiving proper treatment for hepatitis C. The Club said it expected Halahleh to be transferred to Ramle prison clinic, and called upon Palestinian institutions to raise awareness about his case and act to save his life.

Abu Sisi suspends hunger strike, wins agreement to end his isolation

dirarabusisiUFree reported that on August 28, 2013, the Palestinian detainee and hunger striker Dirar Abu Sisi has ended his hunger strike a short while ago following an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service to end his solitary confinement.

According to Kasr Al Qaid organisation, Dirar Abu Sisi has reached an agreement with the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) to end his hunger strike after 13 days in a row.

The agreement states:

1- Abu Sisi will be transferred in seven days from solitary confinement to another prison with better living conditions.
2- Three Palestinian prisoners will share Abu Sisi the same prison cell.
3- Abu Sisi will live in the same detention conditions as the other regular sections i.e. food and break time.
4- Following his trial on 15th September 2013, Dirar will be transferred to other sections.

Dirar Abu Sisi has been held in solitary confinement since 2011, when he was kidnapped by Israeli intelligence from a train in the Ukraine and returned to an Israeli prison.