Hunger striking detainee Samer Issawi has stopped drinking water in an escalation of his 223-day protest, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Jawad Bulous told Ma’an that Issawi started refusing all liquid on Monday in protest at having to wear ankle restraints and being shackled to his hospital bed.

He is required to keep his restraints on even when using the bathroom, Bulous said, adding that keeping him tied to the bed is inhumane and undignified.

The lawyer said that when he visited Issawi’s room he found seven Israeli prison officers eating food to deliberately torment Issawi.

Doctors have tried to convince Issawi to drink water and are afraid he may die at any moment as his blood pressure is very low.

Issawi was arrested on July 7 and accused of violating the terms of his release under a prisoner swap by leaving Jerusalem. He has been on hunger strike since Aug. 1 to protest Israel’ s violation of his amnesty and his illegal imprisonment.

Issawi was transferred from Ramle prison to the Kaplan Medical Center at the end of February.

(Ma’an – maannews.net)