Palestinian detainee Maher al-Akhras enters today his 77th day of hunger strike in protest of his detention without a charge or trial, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
The PPS said al-Akhras was facing greater health hazards after several cases of coronavirus were discovered at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, where he is being hospitalized for a severe deterioration in his health as a result of his 77-day hunger strike.
According to the Society, al-Akhras’s lawyer has filed a request to the Supreme Israeli Court demanding his client’s immediate release, after several other requests by the lawyer were rejected by the court over the past few weeks.
Al-Akhras, 49, began his hunger strike after he was arrested and placed in administrative detention in late July. Administrative detention is an Israeli policy that allows it to detain Palestinians without filing charges, sometimes for months at a time with multiple extensions.
The PPS said earlier this month that an Israeli offer to freeze al-Akhras’ detention instead of canceling it was an act of deception and constituted an attempt to end his hunger strike without allowing him to go immediately.
There are about 350 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons under the so-called administrative detention, a policy that allows the Israeli authorities to hold Palestinians without filing a charge against them or allowing them to stand trial.
In Solidarity with Her Husband, Taghrid #AlAkhras Launches #HungerStrike (VIDEO) https://t.co/koir8MgyvW via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/2av0r6yHeK
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) October 9, 2020
“Administrative detention is Israel’s go-to legal proceeding when it simply wants to mute the voices of Palestinian political activists but lacks any concrete evidence that can be presented in an open, military court,” wrote Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud.
“Not that Israel’s military courts are an example of fairness and transparency. Indeed, when it comes to Palestinians, the entire Israeli judicial system is skewed. But administrative detention is a whole new level of injustice,” Baroud added.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
