Prominent Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan on Tuesday died in an Israeli prison after nearly three months of hunger strike.
Adnan, a 44-year-old senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, had been on hunger strike in protest against his detention from the moment he was arrested at home, in Arraba town, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, on 5 February.
His health had been in decline over the past few weeks, with his family sounding the alarm that Adnan was dying and the Israeli prison authorities refusing to transfer him to a civilian hospital.
Israel said Adnan “refused to undergo medical tests and receive medical treatment” and “was found unconscious in his cell” early in the morning.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Association, Adnan had been detained by Israel 12 times, spending around eight years in prison, mostly under administrative detention.
His first hunger strike took place after his arrest in 2004 to protest against being held in administrative detention, a controversial practice that allows Israel to detain Palestinians without charge for six-month periods.
During his times in detention, Adnan was a spokesperson for Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails and had gone on hunger strike five times. In 2012, his hunger strike, which lasted for 67 days, inspired a wave of Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention to join him.
Amin Shoman, head of the Supreme Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said that Adnan’s case is a display of Israel’s prison administration’s policy against Palestinian prisoners.
“This is a new crime committed by Israel inside its prisons, as it deliberately continues its policy of medical negligence against thousands of prisoners, not responding to their just and humane demands, and turning its back on all international norms and laws,” he told Middle East Eye.
Shoman blamed Israel’s far-right government, which has implemented a series of harsh measures targeting Palestinian prisoners, for Adnan’s death.
“We will witness more martyrs’ prisoners during the coming days and months if the policies of the current Israeli government against thousands of prisoners continue,” he added.
Source: Middle East Eye
