325 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails
More than 300 Palestinians have taken part in separate hunger strikes at Israeli prisons to voice their outrage over mistreatment and show solidarity with a fellow inmate.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said in a statement on Thursday that 285 prisoners affiliated with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas have gone on hunger strike at Eshel and Nafha prisons in the south of the occupied Palestinian territories to protest oppressive measures by the Israeli Prison Service.
The PPS added that 40 other prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have also refused to take their meals in support of Bilal Kayed.
The 35-year-old Palestinian prisoner has been on hunger strike for 51 days in protest at his administrative detention. He is now refusing to undergo medical examinations unless released.
Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer announced on Monday that Kayed was handcuffed to his bed at the Israeli Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, and was wearing an alarm device sensitive to sudden body movements.
Kayed was arrested in 2002 and spent 14 and a half years in Israeli jails. On the day he was scheduled to be released on June 13, Tel Aviv decided to expand his imprisonment term for another six months under the administrative detention policy. The Palestinian man then went on a hunger strike to express his opposition.
There are reportedly more than 6,500 Palestinians held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, which is a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli prisons in some cases for up to 11 years without trial or charge.
Palestinian inmates regularly hold hunger strikes in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.
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