RAMALLAH, Saturday, April 30, 2022 (WAFA) – Two Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli prisons currently remain on hunger strike for 58 and 24 days in a row in protest of their unfair administrative detention without a charge or trial, according to the Detainees Affairs Commission.
Khalil Awawdeh, 40, from the town of Ethna, near Hebron in the southern West Bank, has been on a hunger strike for 58 days in protest against his prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial.
He is reported to be suffering from headaches, fatigue, pain in the joints, irregular heartbeats, frequent vomiting, and significant loss of weight after 58 days of a hunger strike.
The other prisoner, Ra’ed Rayyan, 27, from the village of Bayt Duqu in the West Bank province of Jerusalem, has been on a hunger strike for 24 days demanding the termination of his detention without charge or trial.
Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.
Amnesty International, has described Israel’s administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”
