Israel might reactivate administrative detention of 106-day-hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Jawad Boulus, a lawyer with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS), said on Thursday that Israeli military prosecutor said it might reactivate the administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner Miqdad Qawasmi, who has been on an open-ended hunger strike for 106 consecutive days.
The lawyer said Israeli military prosecutor on Thursday claimed that Qawasmi’s health condition has improved and that it might reactivate the administrative detention of Qawasmi.
On the 6th of October, Israel’s High Court froze the administrative order for the detention of Qawasmi when he entered his 77th day of hunger strike.
Qawasmi, a 24-year-old resident of the southern occupied city of Hebron, was detained in January 2021 and has been on an open-ended hunger strike since July 20 in protest against his unfair administrative detention without a charge or a trial in Israeli jails.
Qawasmi has previously spent a total of four years in Israeli jails for resisting the occupation.
The court’s order of freezing his administrative detention does not release Qawasmi, but it simply freezes the order for the period of his treatment and observation, as his health condition has been deteriorating severely.
The court’s decision also means that the administration of prisons and the Intelligence device are not responsible for his life, and turning him into an unofficial prisoner held at the hospital, under the guardianship of the hospital’s security instead of the jailors.
His family and relatives will be able to visit him at the hospital as a patient, rather than as a detainee, but his family are not allowed to transfer him to any place.
Qawasmi’s health condition has been deteriorating severely as he lost over 40 kilograms of his weight; he weighed 78 kilograms, but now he’s 40 kilograms.
He is held now in the Kaplan Medical Center as a patient, rather than as a detainee.
Qawasmi’s family said that he has started losing a part of his memory and that Israeli doctors in the hospital were threatening to force-feed Qawasmi as they tried to coercively treat Qawasmi while he was tied to his bed in the ICU.
“He’s suffering from severe pain all over his body. He lost over 40 kilograms of his weight. His health is continuously deteriorating. There are problems in his liver and he has Bacteremia. His heart rate was very low a few days ago. There’s no improvement in his health,” his mother said.
“Miqdad did this, and he’s going on with his hunger strike because he didn’t find any other way to regain his freedom. Miqdad was sentenced to administrative detention without any legal justification or any charge just based on a secret file which is controlled by the mood of the officer just because he received information that it’s unlikely for this person to be outside the prison.”
“My son didn’t commit any charge,” his mother added.
“Today, Miqdad is struggling for life. He hopes to return to his home. He deprived himself of food to enjoy life and regain freedom. There must be an urgent intervention to save Miqdad’s life. My son didn’t ask for death. He dreams to live a good life and this is a normal right.”
