Occupied Ramallah, 20 May 2013 - Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association’s Research and Documentation Unit has learned that 4 Palestinian prisoners are on open hunger strike. They are making several demands from the Occupation authorities and the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). Addameer can also confirm that 5 Jordanian prisoners are on hunger strike in order to shed light on their cause and are demanding family visits.
Addameer has gathered the following information concerning the hunger strikers:
1. Detainee Ayman Abu Daoud (30 years old) from Al-Khalil (Hebron). He has been on hunger strike since 14 April 2013 in protest of his re-arrest after his release as part of the most recent prisoner exchange deal on 18 October 2011. Abu Daoud was released as part of the deal after having spent 7 years of his 36-year sentence in prison. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) want him to serve the rest of his previous sentence (a remaining 29 years) on the basis of Article 186 of Military Order 1651, as amended in September 2011. Abu Daoud was re-arrested by the IOF under this article under the pretext of his having violating the terms of his release in a prisoner exchange deal. He has been transferred to the clinic at Ramleh Prison after his health declined as a result of the hunger strike.
2. Detainee Ayman Hamdan (30 years old) from Bethlehem. He has been on hunger strike since 28 April 2013 in protest of his administrative detention. Hamdan has been held in administrative detention since 21 August 2012. The prison administration has transferred him to isolation in Ofer Prison as a punishment for the strike.
3. Detainee Imad Al-Batran (39 years old) from Idhna/Al-Khalil (Hebron). He has been on hunger strike since 7 May 2013 in protest of the renewal of an administrative detention order against him. Al-Batran announced his strike after he received the 6-month renewal, the fourth consecutive renewal since his detention began on 18 November 2011. Occupation authorities immediately transferred Al-Batran to isolation in Ofer Prison after he announced his hunger strike.
It is important to note that Al-Batran was also on hunger strike in September 2012 in protest of the IPS’ refusal to allow him to visit his imprisoned brother, Tareq Al-Batran, who has been in prison since 3 May 2005 and who is serving a life sentence.
4. Prisoner Abdallah Al-Barghouthi (41 years old), from the village of Beit Rima, in the governorate of Ramallah. Al-Barghouthi received the highest sentence by a military court in the history of the Israeli occupation (67 life sentences). He has been imprisoned since 5 March 2003. Al-Barghouthi announced his open hunger striker on 2 May 2013, demanding that his relatives in Jordan be allowed to visit him in prison. He was immediately transferred to isolation in Ramleh Prison. Al-Barghouthi also went on hunger strike on 12 April 2012, demanding that he be released from isolation and be allowed to receive family visits.
Addameer also confirms that there are 5 prisoners with Jordanian citizenship who have been on open hunger strike since the beginning of May. They are demanding more attention for their cause, as well as family visits, from which they have been banned for several years.
On another note, Addameer’s lawyer Mahmoud Hassan has reported that imprisoned PLC representative Ahmad Sa’adat will be brought before a judge in the district court in Al-Lid (Lod) next Tuesday, 21 May 2013. The judge will consider a request put forth by Sa’adat to be able to receive a visit from his granddaughter in prison.