On 3 October 2023, Addameer submitted an urgent appeal on the arbitrary administrative detention of Kayed AlFasfous to the UN Special Procedures. On 3 October 2023, Palestinian detainee Kayed AlFasfous entered (63) days on hunger strike to protest his continued administrative detention by the Israeli occupation regime.
Kayed Fasfous, 34 years old from Hebron governorate, is a father of a child, and former prisoner who has spent a total of seven years in Israeli prisons. Kayed Fasfous was most recently re-arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on 2 May 2023 and placed under a six-month administrative detention order. On 3 August 2023, Fasfous initiated an open hunger strike in protest of his continued arbitrary and indefinite administrative detention. After 57 days on strike, he was transferred to Alramleh Israeli prison clinic after his health deteriorated.
Most notably, Kayed Fasfous’s health has deteriorated to critical condition, facing an imminent risk of life at any moment. According to a visit by the lawyer conducted yesterday, Monday, at the Ramla prison clinic, Fasfous is suffering from continuous suffocation and difficulty in breathing, severe joint and back pain. He also experiences intermittent sleep and is unable to perform basic human tasks such as bathing and others. It is worth noting that he has lost more than 30 kilograms of his weight since the beginning of the strike. Additionally, he suffers from dry eyes and refuses to undergo medical examinations and take supplements.
Most recently, the Israeli High Court in occupied Jerusalem decided yesterday, Monday 2 October 2023, to refer the petition filed by the lawyer of the administrative detainee Kayed Fasfous, to the Military Court of Appeals. This comes after the Military Court of Appeals had earlier rejected the appeal filed by Fasfous's lawyer against the decision to continue his administrative detention. This is seen as a delaying tactic, especially considering Fasfous's difficult health condition.
In 2023, Israeli occupation authorities vastly expanded the systematic and arbitrary practice of administrative detention, without charge or trial. According to documentation by Addameer, Israeli occupation authorities issued (2646) administrative detention orders in 2023.
Further still, Israeli occupation authorities only escalated this practice in 2023, with the number of administrative detainees reaching historic levels; currently, (1319) Palestinian administrative detainees are held indefinitely, without charge or trial, in Israeli occupation prisons, including (21) child, and (4) women.
Addameer notes with grave concern the poor living conditions Palestinian prisoners are subjected to by the IPS and the already deteriorating health conditions of some prisoners. We urge your respective mandates to intervene immediately to:
- Call on the Occupying Power, Israel, to immediately release Palestinian detainee Kayed AlFasfous whose life is under imminent threat, and guarantee his right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary arrests and detention;
- Call on Israel and the Israeli Prison Services to ensure and uphold Palestinian detainee Kayed AlFasfous’s right to the highest attainable standard of health and mental health, as well as the right to life, as well as avoid and end all forms of reprisals against the striking prisoners;
- Call on Israel to put an end to the systematic and arbitrary use of administrative detention against Palestinians, and demand the release of all Palestinian political prisoners held in administrative detention indefinitely without charge or trial, contrary to international law;
- Call on the international community and all High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations towards protecting human rights and ensuring the implementation of international humanitarian law.