Two Palestinian prisoners suspend hunger strikes after winning battles for freedom

Two Palestinian prisoners, who had embarked on open-ended hunger strikes to protest their detention without charge by the Israeli regime, have suspended their strikes after securing their release from Israeli jails in the coming months.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, an independent and non-governmental Palestinian organization that represents former and current prisoners, said in a statement that 34-year-old Kayed Fasfous and Ayyad al-Harimi, 28, were suspending their months-long strikes after Israeli authorities agreed to set them free.

Kayed, a resident of the occupied southern West Bank city of Dura who fathers one child, will be released on December 14, while Ayyad will be set free on March 4 next year, the group said.

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Kayed’s family said that for the time being, he remains in the hospital, where he is being kept due to serious deterioration of his health condition following the prolonged hunger strike, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The symbolic leader of a current high-profile hunger strike by several prisoners, Kayed had been refusing to eat for 131 days in protest at his administrative detention, an Israeli policy that allows detaining Palestinians indefinitely based on “secret information” and without pressing formal charges or putting them on trial.

Ayyad also suspended his hunger strike after 61 days. He had recently been transferred from Ramla prison to Ofer jail.

His health started to deteriorate after going on a hunger strike. He is suffering from pains all over his body as well as blurred vision and has lost the ability to stand and walk.

The 28-year-old, who comes from the town of Bethlehem, was arrested in April and held on administrative detention orders since.

Earlier this month, Palestinian prisoner Miqdad al-Qawasmi also agreed to suspend his hunger strike, which was ongoing for 113 days, after Israeli prison authorities agreed to release him in February.

Two other Palestinian prisoners, Hisham Abu Hawwash and Loai Ashqar, have been on extended hunger strikes. They, too, have been protesting their detention without charge or trial.

The two detainees have refused food and drink for 98 and 43 days respectively.

Israeli jail authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards.

Palestinian inmates have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.

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Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Geneva Convention. 

There are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention.

Rights groups describe Israel’s use of administrative detention as a “bankrupt tactic” and have long called on Israel to bring its use to an end.

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