The Palestinian detainee Shadi Abu Eker has suspended his open-ended hunger strike after 69 days, following the Israeli occupation authority’s announcement of his release date next April. However, six other detainees continue with their own hunger striker.
“Administrative detention” is the practice of detention without trial, as administered by the Israeli intelligence in coordination with the military leadership in the occupied West Bank. Administrative detention can last between one and six months, and is typically based on “secret security information” concerning the detainee.
Shadi Abu Eker is currently in the Ramla prison health clinic, an Israeli Prison Service facility.
He has not been able to stand for more than a month, has lost about 20 kilograms, and has difficulty speaking.
His other symptoms include: pains in his chest, abdomen, and kidneys; blurred vision and damage to his retinas; aches all over his body; and a loss of balance, such that he now uses a wheelchair.
The prisoner, from Aida camp in Bethlehem, in the south of the occupied West Bank, has been detained since October 2020. He is married and the father of two children. He has spent ten years in total in occupation prisons.
The prisoners who continue their hunger strike are: Kayed al-Fasfous, who has been on strike for 111 days; Miqdad Al-Qawasmi, for 103 days; Alaa al-Araj, for 87 days; Hisham Abu Hawash, for 77 days; Ayad al-Harimi, for 41 days; and Luay al-Ashkar, for 47 days.
In addition to those six prisoners, a larger group of detainees have maintained their own hunger strike for 25 days at the time of writing, in solidarity with those prisoners protesting the administrative detention.
The Israeli occupation forces currently hold around 500 Palestinian administrative detainees, from around 4600 prisoners overall.
