News / Palestine

Palestinian reporter Qiq freed from Israeli jail

Thursday, 19 May 2016 3:04 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 19 May 2016 3:04 PM ]

Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq flashes the victory sign upon his release from an Israeli jail on May 19, 2016.

A Palestinian journalist, who recently went on a three-month hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention, has been released from an Israeli jail.

Muhammad al-Qiq was freed from the Israeli Nafha prison on Thursday, the family of the reporter told the Palestinian Information Center.

Qiq headed to a checkpoint in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), where dozens of his relatives and colleagues were waiting to see him, the reporter’s family added.

He was expected to be released on Saturday, but as the date coincided with a holiday his liberation came two days earlier.

Qiq’s family called on the Palestinian nation to take part in the ceremony which will be held on the occasion of the journalist’s freedom.

The event, titled Triumph of the Will, is due in the cultural center of the town of Dura, located eleven kilometers (6.8 miles) southwest of al-Khalil, at 6 p.m. local time on Friday.

The 33-year-old journalist with the Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news was arrested on November 21, 2015 on suspicion of alleged involvement in terror activities.

Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq on hunger strike is seen in an Israeli hospital on February 5, 2016. ©AFP

The father of two denied the charges and began refusing food on November 25 in protest against his administrative detention and ill-treatment in Israeli detention centers.

After 93 days, Qiq ended his hunger strike after under an agreement with Israeli officials, entailing his release on May 21 with no renewal to his arbitrary detention.

More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, dozens of whom are serving multiple life sentences.

Over 500 detainees are under administrative detention, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to expresses their outrage at the illegal and unfair administrative detention.

Last year, the Tel Aviv regime passed a controversial bill allowing the force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoners.

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