Monday April 29 2013, Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that Palestinian detainee, Samer Al-Eesawy was moved from the Kapalan Israeli hospital to the Al-Ramla prison clinic, adding that the detainee is slowly recovery from his nine-month hunger strike.Qaraqe’ stated that the Ministry’s lawyer, Hanan Al-Khatib, managed to visit al-Eesawy at the prison clinic, and stated that he is slowly recovering, and managed to walk a few steps despite his weak body.
Qaraqe’ said that the detainee is undergoing various medical tests, and is following a dietary program so that he can fully recover, and is undergoing treatment for his heart, kidneys and other vital organs.
Lawyer Al-Khatib said that she objected to moving Al-Eesawy to the Al-Ramla prison clinic, and demanded that he should be sent back to the Israeli hospital as the clinic lacks basic supplies and equipment.
On his part, Al-Eesawy told Al-Khatib that ailing Palestinian detainees at the prison clinic are facing very difficult situations, and that they should be moved to regular hospitals that can provide them with the urgently needed medical treatment.
The detainee started his strike after Israeli soldiers kidnapped him in direct violation of the Prisoner Swap deal that secured his release, in October of 2011, along with more than a 1000 detainees in return for the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by the resistance in Gaza in June of 2006.
The Israeli Military Prosecution was demanding that Al-Eesawy should be sentenced to 10-24 years for “violating the terms of his release”.
Article #186 of Israeli Military order #1651 regarding the cancellation of early releases of Palestinian detainees, allows a special military committee headed by military judges to re-arrest Palestinian detainees who were released under the prisoner-swap deal of October 2011.
Israel allows the re-arrest of detainees under the claim that they violated the terms of their release; therefore, the special committee can demand reinstating the original sentence. In Al-Eesawy’s case, the sentence would be 20 years.
