Communist Party of Canada expresses concern about Abu Hawash fate

Ottawa (QNN)- The Communist Party of Canada has expressed its concern about the fate of Palestinian detainee, Hisham Abu Hawash, who has been on hunger strike for 139 consecutive days in protest against his administrative detention without a charge or trial by Israeli occupation authorities.

In a statement issued on 29 December, 2021, the Communist Party of Canada said it is “concerned about the fate of Palestinian political prisoners, especially the 500 of them, including six children,” saying they are subjected to Israel’s administrative detention regime, “which some describe as arbitrary detention.”

“Among them, we are particularly concerned about the fate of Hisham Abu Hawash,” added the Communist Party of Canada while noting that “Abu Hawash’s condition is deteriorating daily. He is between life and death.”

“The arbitrary detention regime violates all the conventions on the rights of prisoners, including the right to defense and to appeal. It is nothing less than a court martial for Palestinian civilians that Israel is using for political purposes,” the statement read.

Given the urgency of the situation, the party urged in the statement Minister Mélanie Joly to “put immediate pressure on the Israeli authorities to demand the immediate release of Mr. Abu Hawash.”

The party also demanded that the Canadian government “take consistent action for the release of all political prisoners, the end of the administrative detention regime and the respect of the Geneva Convention by the Israeli authorities.”

The party stressed that in the longer term, they “know that the core issue remains the occupation of Palestine and therefore demand that the Government of Canada take a clear stand in support of international law and a clear stand in support of the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with (now occupied) East Jerusalem as its capital, and in support of the right of return for 1948 refugees.”

The party also called on all progressive, democratic, trade union, social and popular forces to join their voices to this cause.

“Whether it is, in the long term, the liberation of Palestine and the defeat of the Zionist project or, in the short term, the liberation and saving of the life of Hisham Abu Hawash, the struggle is the same.”

Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said yesterday that Hisham Abu Hawash is facing the possibility of sudden death and Israeli doctors refuse to provide information about his condition.

His family also said that they are concerned that he has started to move into a coma.

“Since 3:00 am, Hisham has never woken up”, Abu Hawwash’s brother said. “His wife awakens him to make him drink water and he immediately goes back to sleep, which is the start of the coma.”

The Committee of Detainees and Former Detainees Affairs had said that “the medical condition of Hisham is noticeably deteriorating, especially that he has been losing consciousness on several occasions.”

“He lost his ability to move and he has difficulties in speech”, the Committee added.

Following a visit to Abu Hawash, representatives from the Ministry of Health had confirmed that he is in a very critical condition.

Abu Hawash, a father of five children, was arrested in October 2020 under administrative detentions without charges or trial. He started his hunger strike 139 days ago in protest against his unlawful detention. Israeli authorities continue to refuse to release him or even transfer him to a Palestinian hospital.