Jerusalemite Ubaida Asaid, age 16, has begun an open-ended hunger strike to protest against transferring him to Ofek criminal jail.The father of the boy said that the IPS transferred his son, on Tuesday, from al-Maskobeyah prison in Jerusalem to Ofek criminal jail, where he refused to enter its cells. The prison guards forced him to do so, upon which Ubaida directly began an open-ended hunger strike, asking to be transferred to a security prison, Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency has reported.
Ubaida and his brother Osman, 13, were arrested on November 25, 2013, and were charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at an Israeli police car, in Jerusalem. Osman was released with a fine, while the Israeli prosecutor refused to release Ubaida.
Since 1967, when Israel first began occupying the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This represents approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and 40% of all males.
Despite prohibition by international law, Israel detains Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave occupied Palestine.
