Detainee Ahmad Ismail Safi, 22, from the West Bank city of Jericho, declared an open-ended hunger strike after the Israeli Prison Administration at the Negev Detention Facility refused to provide him with the neccessary medical treatment. Safi suffers paralysis in his left foot, and needs to have the bullet that has been embedded in it for more than six years surgically removed.
He recieved the initial wound when he was shot by the Israeli army on October 16 2001. He has been receiving treatment and therapy since then, but needs surgery to avoid further complications.
In a phone interview, Eid Barahma, head of the Jericho Office of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, told the Maan News Agency that Safi was transferred recently to administrative detention after he served a 17-month sentence.
Instead of being released after finishing his sentence period, Safi was transferred to administrative detention without charges or trial.
Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have carried out several hunger strikes in protest against the poor living conditions, the repeated attacks against them and the lack of medical treatment receieved by them; especially those suffering from chronic diseases, disabilities and other conditions that require continuous medical attention.
At least 173 detainees have died in Israeli prisons since Israel occupied the Palestinian territories in 1967.
