Former long-term hunger striker Bilal Diab entered his 7th day of hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention without charge or trial in Israeli jails, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Diab, 32, was detained by occupation forces on July 14, 2017; he was previously held under administrative detention and conducted a 77-day strike with fellow detainee Thaer Halahleh in 2012 to win his release. He conducted a 20-day hunger strike when he was detained by occupation forces in July.
Diab is now being held in isolation in Asqalan prison in central Israel – the fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from moving prisoners from the occupied territory to the occupying state – in retaliation for his hunger strike. A PPS lawyer who was allowed to visit Diab in Asqalan jail, said Diab has also refrained from drinking water to protest his transfer to a solitary confinement two days ago.
Palestinian prisoner Bilal Diab, 32, is entering his third week on hunger strike, reported his family. Diab, who… https://t.co/pMpD3pWdsa
— Hares Boys (@HaresBoys) August 7, 2017
Diab also refuses to take any nourishments or to undergo any medical checkups. According to the lawyer, Diab’s health condition has deteriorated; he currently suffers from an overall fatigue, headaches, earache, and abdominal and back pain.
Diab is held in a very small insect-infested cell. The detainee was given an old mattress and a thin blanket and uses his shoes as a pillow. He has not been allowed to bathe since he began his strike.
“Under international law, it is permissible to administratively detain a person only in exceptional cases, as a last resort in order to prevent a grave danger that cannot be prevented through less harmful means. Israel’s use of administrative detention blatantly breaches these rules. The military must release all the administrative detainees or prosecute them, in accordance with due process,” said B’Tselem.
(Wafa, PC, Social Media)
