Hunger strike against administrative detention: Palestinian 'on the brink of death’
The alarm launched by the anti-occupation NGO B'Tselem on the health conditions of Maher Al-Akhras. Arrested by the Shin Bet for (alleged) links with Islamic Jihad, he has been awaiting a formalization of charges and a trial for months. Over 350 Palestinians under administrative detention, including two minors.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Palestinian detained in Israel, on hunger strike for almost 80 days, is "on the brink of death". This is the alarm launched by the anti-occupation NGO B'Tselem, according to which the 49-year-old Maher Al-Akhras in a regime of "administrative detention" continues to observe a complete fast despite having lost half his bodyweight, so much so that he had to be hospitalized Kaplan hospital in Rehovot.
Accused of having links with Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian extremist armed group, he was arrested in July near Nablus, in the north of the West Bank, and placed under administrative detention. He has never undergone a trial or received formal charges from the Israeli military prosecutor. A judge approved the "precautionary" arrest based on a note from the Shin Bet, the secret service, for unspecified "security reasons".
The administrative detention applied by Israel allows a suspect to be detained for long periods, even without precise charges, and it can be renewed unilaterally every six months. This measure, once applied only to Palestinian militants, now also applies to Israelis, although critics are sceptical about how to apply.
In protest, Maher Al-Akhras started a hunger strike but his condition plummeted quickly, requiring hospitalization in early September. Today he is "on the brink of death", as stated in a B'Tselem statement. In support of the Palestinian activist, a few dozen demonstrators took to the streets yesterday in the center of Ramallah, with slogans and signs calling for his release. "Our people will not let Maher Al-Akhras fall," shouted Khader Adnane, who was also arrested several times by Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh also spoke out for his release and, from 8 October, an international campaign on Twitter started with the hashtags #SaveMaher #DignityStrike. His lawyers have filed the request for release from prison before the Supreme Court, but the request has yet to be studied by the judges who have asked for more time before making a decision.
Al Akhras, a resident of Silat al-Dhahr, a village near Jenin, has already been jailed five times, some of them without trial. Since 1967, the year the occupation began in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, at least 50,000 administrative detention orders have been issued; according to data released by B’Tselem, at the end of August about 355 Palestinians were under administrative detention, among which there are at least two minors.
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27/11/2020 10:45
20/08/2015
