Friday, February 5, 2016

Palestinian Hunger Striker Near Death

One imprisoned Palestinian lawyer, Muhammad al-Qiq, is on hunger strike protesting the Israeli practice of administrative detention, a practice continued from British rule that allows Israel to arrest persons without charging them with anything. Currently he has been on hunger strike for 71 days.

Muhammad al-Qiq appears to be near death.
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an ) -- The wife of hunger-striking Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq said Friday that her husband's health had continued to deteriorate and he was no longer responsive to visitors.
Fayhaa Shalash, a journalist herself, told Ma’an that al-Qiq's health had shown a decline since Thursday when she said he had still been responsive. ...
[The International Committee of the Red Cross] last month called on Israel "to find a solution that will avoid any loss of life" in al-Qiq’s case, but the calls have yet to pressure Israel to release the journalist. ...
He is one of at least 660 Palestinians being held in administrative detention, a policy that senior UN official Robert Piper earlier this week said Israel should immediately halt. (Ma'an News Agency, February 5, 2016.)
Israel should get rid of this widely criticized practice of administrative detention. If one is to be arrested is it really too much to expect the authorities to do the paperwork and charge the prisoner with something if they want to hold him in prison? 

2 comments:

  1. 73 days is pretty much the max with occasional sips of water. 7 to 14 days without. He's probably beyond the point of no return already.

    BB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope not. It is just so sad and terrible.

    ReplyDelete