WEST BANK (Al Jazeera) – An Zionist military court rejected an appeal for release by a Palestinian prisoner whose health is deteriorating as he continues a 165-day hunger strike to protest being held without charge or trial.
Khalil Awawdeh is one of several Palestinian detainees who have gone on prolonged hunger strikes over the years in protest of so-called administrative detention.
Zionist troops arrested the 40-year-old father of four in December as a member of a resistance movement.
Awawdeh’s lawyer Ahlam Haddad confirmed on Monday that the military court rejected his appeal for release. He has not eaten during the strike, except for a 10-day period in which he received vitamin injections, according to his family.
Dr Lina Qasem-Hassan, of Physicians for Human Rights, visited him on Thursday at the hospital where he was transferred after his condition worsened. She said he weighed 42kg (around 90 pounds), was handcuffed to a bed and surrounded by guards.
“He suffers from severe neurological symptoms and cognitive impairment, which might be irreversible,” the rights group said in a statement. “His life is in immediate danger.”
Chairman of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission Qadri Abu Baker said the Zionist regime and the prison officials are fully responsible for the life of Awawdeh.
The commission’s spokesman, Hasan Abed Rabbo, told WAFA news agency that the health condition of Awawdeh is getting worse day by day.
According to Palestinian officials, Awawdeh now requires a wheelchair to help him move.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which represents former and current prisoners, confirmed that Awawdeh’s condition had worsened.
Awawdeh went on hunger strike for 111 days before suspending it following promises. After the promises turned out to be false, he resumed the strike, demanding his freedom. The occupying regime issued an order to renew his administrative detention for a period of four months from June 26 to October 25 despite his highly critical health condition.
Thousands of Palestinians are held in the regime’s jails. Human rights organizations say the regime violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Geneva Convention. They say the so-called administrative detention violates the right to due process since the evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.
Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express outrage at the detentions.