The Commission of Detainees and ex-Detainees Affairs said, in its Sunday report, that six Palestinian detainees being held in Israeli prisons are continuing an open-ended hunger strike against their arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial. Five of them are languishing in al-Ramla prison clinic.
The commission noted that the six detainees are identified as:
42-year-old Ahmad Ghannam, a resident of Dura city, to the southwest of Hebron; entered his 65th day of hunger strike.
38-year-old Sultan Khallouf, a resident of Burqin town, to the west of Jenin; entered his 61st day of hunger strike.
30-year-old Ismael Ali, a resident of Abu Dis village, in occupied Jerusalem; entered his 55th day of hunger strike.
46-year-oldTariq Qa’dan, a resident of the Jenin Governorate; entered his 48th day of hunger strike.
31-year-old Nasser al-Jada’, a resident of Burqin town, to the west of Jenin; entered his 41st day of hunger strike.
30-year-old Thaer Hamdan, a resident of Beit Sira village, to the west of Ramallah; entered his 36th day of hunger strike.
The commission confirmed, according to Al Ray, that the detainees are suffering serious health conditions which cause severe pains throughout their bodies, in addition to weight loss, vision impairment and severe wasting. Moreover, most of them cannot walk for long distances.
The commission added that most of the detainees were infected with diseases before being detained by Israeli authorities, and are in need of effective medical follow-up, as with the case of the prisoner Ahmad Ghannam, who suffers from blood cancer.
The commission warned that there is a real danger to the life of Ghannam after entering his 64th day of open-ended hunger strike, due to the weakness of his immune system.
The commission noted that the Israeli Prison Sytem (IPS) is delibrately carrying out a series of punitive measures against Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, which include repeated transfer of the detainees. among jails, putting them in solitary confinement, which lacks key ingredients to life, and conducting search and storm campaigns against the prisoners, while they are in their cells.
(edited for the IMEMC by c h r i s @ i m e m c . o r g)
