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Four Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails continue open-ended hunger strike

Four Palestinian detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons are continuing their open-ended hunger strike, including three protesting their ongoing administrative detention, according to a statement released today by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

Jerusalem24 – Four Palestinian detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons are continuing their open-ended hunger strike, including three protesting their ongoing administrative detention, according to a statement released today by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

It said that the 37-year-old Imad Sawarka, from the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, has been on hunger strike for 33 days, while 41-year-old Saed Abu Obaid, from Jenin, has been on hunger strike for 15 days, 33-year-old Musab al-Hor, from Hebron, went on strike eight days ago, and 45-year-old Muhannad al-Azza, from Bethlehem, began his strike eight days ago.

The PPS stated that Sawarka, Abu Obaid, and al-Hor are on strike to protest their continuing administrative detention without charge or trial, while al-Azza, who has been in detention since 2010 and who has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, went on hunger strike demanding that he be transferred from the Gilboa prison.

Sawarka, Abu Obeid, and al-Hor are former prisoners who spent years in the prisons of the Israeli occupation, most of which were under administrative detention; Sawarka spent a total of 10 years behind bars, while Abu Obaid spent nearly 12 years, and al-Hor nearly 10 years.

The Israeli authorities arrested Sawarka in July of last year before he was slammed with three consecutive administrative detention orders, each for a period of four months. He is married and the father of five children.

Abu Obaid was arrested in November of last year and was sentenced to an actual prison term of four and a half months. However, after the end of his sentence, he was placed in administrative detention, prompting him to begin the hunger strike demanding his release from prison.

Al-Hor, who is married and a father of a child, was detained in October 2019 and has since then received four administrative detention orders.

According to the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, administrative detention is incarceration without trial or charge, alleging that a person plans to commit a future offense. It has no time limit, and the evidence on which it is based is not disclosed. Israel employs this measure extensively and routinely, and has used it to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time.

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