WEST BANK (Dispatches) – For Abd al-Rahman Adnan, this year’s Eid al-Fitr holiday was the worst he has ever experienced.
Instead of celebrating it with family and friends, the 12-year-old spent it taking part in protests with his siblings in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, advocating for his father’s release from the Zionist regime’s prison.
His father, prominent activist Khader Adnan, was on the 76th day of a hunger strike and it was clear his health was deteriorating.
“On every Eid holiday, dad would take us to the amusement park, play with us, make us happy, and buy us toys,” Rahman told Middle East Eye.
“This year’s Eid was the most devastating. My father was imprisoned by the occupation during four previous holidays, but this was the worst because he was on a hunger strike,” he added.
Ten days after Eid, Khader was found dead in a cell after an 87-day hunger strike.
His death shocked Palestinians across the occupied territories and beyond.
In his hometown of Arraba, south of Jenin, mourners flocked to the funeral home, paying respects to the family. Each one recalled their own stories with the “Sheikh”.
“Sheikh Khader Adnan confided in his wife, Randa Musa, that upon his release and the conclusion of his hunger strike, he longed to eat the mansaf [a traditional dish] he enjoyed at our home,” said Asma Harish, a journalist, and sister of Ahmad Harish, a former Palestine Authority prisoner whose release campaigns were led by Khader.
“He tragically passed away before his wish could be realized,” Harish told MEE.
Known locally as Sheikh Khader, the 45-year-old was one of the most popular activists in the West Bank.
Two United Nations experts called for the Zionist regime to be held accountable for the murder of Adnan.
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, and Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN special rapporteur on the right to health, made the appeal, denouncing as “cruel” and “inhumane” the occupying regime’s mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians.
“There must be accountability for the killing of the 45-year-old Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan,” the experts said.
“The death of Khader Adnan is a tragic testament to Israel’s cruel and inhumane detention policy and practices, as well as the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable in the face of callous illegalities perpetrated against Palestinian inmates,” they added.
The experts further noted that they could not separate the regime’s prison policies from “the colonial nature of its occupation, intended to control and subjugate all Palestinians in the territory Israel wants to control.”