Update on the Palestinian Prisoners’ Hunger Strike
ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organisation
Ramallah, 25 April 2012
On 17 April 2012, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons launched a mass hunger strike demanding an end to administrative detention, isolation and other punitive measures taken against
Palestinian prisoners including the denial of family visits and access to university education.
Approximately 1,200 Palestinian prisoners from all factions began an open hunger strike on 17 April, with the campaign
gaining further momentum over this past week and additional prisoners joining daily. Addameer estimates that the current
number of prisoners engaged in open hunger strike is around 2,000. This number includes the 19 prisoners currently held
in isolation for “security reasons.” Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned Secretary General of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who has been held in isolation for over three years, reported on 23 April that since the
beginning of his hunger strike on 17 April, he had already lost 6 kg.
As during hunger strikes in the past, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has escalated its punishments of hunger striking
prisoners in an effort to undermine the campaign. Methods of punishment currently being employed against hunger striking
prisoners include attacks on prisoners’ sections; confiscation of personal belongings; transfers from one prison to
another; placement in solitary confinement; fines; and denial of family and lawyer visits. Addameer lawyers have been
denied access to all hunger striking prisoners.
Forty prisoners who began their hunger strike today in Ofer prison were informed that they will be transferred to
another section of the prison and will not be permitted to bring with them any personal belongings except clothes. In
Ashkelon prison, the 150 hunger strikers are experiencing daily raids and attacks on their rooms by Israeli special
forces. In addition to all personal belongings being confiscated, the IPS also confiscated the hunger-striking
prisoners’ only nourishment: salt for their water. Hunger striking prisoners in Nafha prison have also had their salt
confiscated, raising serious health concerns for the prisoners engaged in hunger strike. Of the approximately 400
prisoners on hunger strike in Nafha, at least 40 were transferred out of their sections. Hunger strikers in Nafha have
also been subjected to fines and electricity was cut in their rooms. On 23 April, six prisoners joined in the hunger
strike in Naqab prison and were all immediately placed in solitary confinement. Female prisoner Lina Jarbouni also
declared an open hunger strike on 19 April and was taken to solitary confinement on the same day. These aforementioned
measures are only a few examples of the widespread punishments, particularly the use of transfers and solitary
confinement, currently facing the hunger striking prisoners, as an attempt by the IPS to further isolate them from the
outside world and from other prisoners involved in the campaign.
Meanwhile, eight prisoners, including five administrative detainees, remain on extended hunger strikes launched prior to
17 April. Seven of these prisoners have been transferred to Ramleh prison medical center. Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab
are on their 57th day of hunger strike today. Despite their rapidly deteriorating medical condition, both of their
appeals against their administrative detention orders were rejected by an Israeli military judge on 23 April. Yesterday,
24 April, Hassan Safadi’s petition to the Israeli High Court against his administrative detention was rejected. He is on
his 52nd day of hunger strike. Administrative detainees Omar Abu Shalal and Jaafar Azzedine are on their 50th and 35th
days of hunger strike respectively. Also now in Ramleh prison medical center are Mohammad Taj, on his 39th day of hunger
strike demanding to be treated as a prison of war, and Mahmoud Sarsak, on his 34th day of hunger strike in protest of
being held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law. Lastly, Abdullah Barghouti, held in isolation in Rimon prison, is on
his 14th day of hunger strike. Addameer reiterates its grave concern that these hunger strikers are not receiving
adequate healthcare in the IPS medical center and that independent doctors are still being denied visits to them.
Despite the punitive measures being taken against hunger striking prisoners, the campaign of hunger strikes continues to
grow. The six female prisoners in Hasharon who are not already on hunger strike have announced that they will begin an
open hunger strike on 1 May. Additional prisoners are also expected to gradually join the campaign, including 120 in
Ofer prison, who will start their hunger strike on 29 April. As the mass hunger strike picks up even more momentum, it
will become that much more crucial for hunger striking prisoners to have unrestricted access to their lawyers and
independent doctors.
In light of these developments, an upsurge of action at the international level is necessary to bring attention to the
legitimate demands of Palestinian prisoners. Addameer therefore renews its call on all political parties, institutions,
organizations and solidarity groups working in the field of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory and
abroad to support the prisoners in their campaign of hunger strikes.
ENDS