WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have rejected meals in solidarity with six fellow inmates who have been on hunger strike for weeks to protest the Zionist regime’s illegal administrative detention policy, which allows prisoners to be held for long periods of time without charge or trial.
On Sunday, thousands of Palestinians behind bars in the occupying regime’s prisons decided to reject the lunch and dinner meals in solidarity with six fellow inmates who have been on hunger strike in protest against their indefinite detention, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
According to the report, citing a statement by the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Kayed al-Fasfous has been on a hunger strike for 116 days, the longest strike among the six. The other prisoners are Miqdad Qawasmeh, who has been on hunger strike for 109 days, Alaa Aaraj (92 days), Hesham Abu Hawwash (82 days), Ayyad Hureimi (46 days) and Lo’ai al-Ashqar (28 days).
The health conditions of the hunger strikers are very critical, particularly Fasfous and Qawasmeh, who have been in hospital following serious deterioration in their health conditions, said Hassan Abed Rabbo, a spokesman for the commission.
The two inmates suffer from irregular heartbeats and serious decline in body fluids and vitamins, he added.
The commission further warned that Fasfous might die at any moment, adding that Qawasmeh also suffers serious health complications in his lungs, kidney, and liver.
The six Palestinian hunger strikers have been demanding an end of their administrative detention based on a “secret file,” which even their lawyers are not allowed to view.
The so-called secret files are provided by the Zionist regime’s spy service and is renewed successively.
On Thursday, the occupying regime’s prosecution office informed the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) of its intent to extend the administrative detention of al-Qawasmeh, who has been in the regime’s so-called administrative detention with no trial or indictment.
On October 21, experts of the United Nations expressed grave fear for the lives of the hunger strikers, calling on the occupying regime to either release or charge the prisoners. They also urged Tel Aviv to completely end its unlawful practice of administrative detention.
More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held in the regime’s jails. Hundreds of them have apparently been incarcerated under the administrative detention, a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in the regiem’s detention centers without trial or charge.