Khader Adnan, freed Palestinian political prisoner and former long-term hunger striker, who won his release from administrative detention in 2015 and 2012 through hunger strikes, issued a video on 19 July calling for action to support fellow hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti.Video (with English subtitles, originally via Quds News Network):
Like Adnan, Allan and Isteiti are imprisoned under administrative detention, held without charge or trial on the basis of Israeli military orders and secret evidence. Both have been on hunger strike for 32 days, protesting their imprisonment and demanding an end to administrative detention.
Allan, 31 and a practicing lawyer from Nablus, is being held in isolation in Ayala prison. He has been detained since 6 November 2014. The renewal of his administrative detention without charge or trial prompted his strike. Isteiti, from the Jenin refugee camp, has been on strike for 25 days, and is held in isolation in Eshel prison, where he was moved three days ago from the Negev prison. He has been detained since 17 November 2014. Like Allan, the renewal of his detention prompted his strike.
These hunger strikes come as dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees have announced a boycott of the Israeli military courts that essentially function as a rubber-stamp, signing off on administrative detention orders on the basis of secret evidence – and as Khader Adnan has once again been victorious in his 55-day hunger strike, released on 12 July 2015 after a year of administrative detention. Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
Letter text
To Brigadier General Dani Afroni, Military Judge Advocate General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
I write today to call for an immediate release of Palestinian hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, held without charge or trial under administrative detention.
I also demand the end of the use of administrative detention. Like over 400 other Palestinians, Allan and Isteiti are being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence. Allan and Isteiti have been on hunger strike for over 20 days.
Dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees are boycotting the military courts that produce these arbitrary sentences with no charge and no trial. I join their call to end this detention.
The lives of Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti – and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- are precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on these case, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for the hunger strikers’ health and lives.
Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day – even in the rigged military court systems.
Allan and Isteiti must be released immediately and without condition, along with their fellow administrative detainees.
More info at AIC official.
