WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Nine Palestinian inmates have gone on hunger strike in the Zionist prisons to protest against the regime’s so-called policy of administrative detention.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement on Sunday that the nine prisoners have been on hunger strike for the fifth consecutive day in protest at their indefinite, unfair and unexplained imprisonment at the hands of the occupying regime, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
The commission further called on international human rights organizations as well as local humanitarian institutions to take immediate action to put an end to the regime’s maltreatment of the hunger-striking detainees, including solitary confinement.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are held under the so-called “administrative detention”, in which the regime keeps the detainees without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of times. Women and minors are among those detainees.
Critics say the regime’s uses the policy of “administrative detention” to silence the voices of Palestinians but lacks any concrete evidence that could be presented in an open, military court.
Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express their outrage at the detention. Palestinians hold Zionist regime authorities fully responsible for any deterioration of the circumstances in jails.
More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences.
Over 350 detainees, including women and minors, are under the regime’s administrative detention.
The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence.
Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.