Iran Press/ Middle East: The oldest hunger-striker of the seven prisoners is prisoner Kayed Fasfous, who has been on hunger strike for 95 days in protest of his detention without a charge or trial, followed by Muqdad Qawasmeh (88 days), Alaa Aaraj (71 days), Hesham Abu Hawwash (62 days), Shadi Abu-Akr (54 days), Ayyad Hureimi (25 days) and Khalil Abu-Aram (7 days).
Fasfous, who is currently at Kaplan Medical Center following serious deterioration on his health, demands to be set free charging his detention without charge or trial and based on the so-called secret file which even his lawyer is not allowed to view.
Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.
Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes as a way to protest their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy which violates international law.
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