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20 more prisoners join open hunger strike
June 12, 2014
In Blog
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Published today 21:13
(MaanImages/file)
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Twenty Palestinian prisoners have announced their decision to join an open hunger strike in solidarity with around 125 administrative prisoners who have been refusing food for 50 days in protest against their indefinite detention without trial.The 20 prisoners, who are affiliated with the leftist party Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a letter sent from jail that they intend to stay on hunger strike until the demands of the administrative prisoners are answered, or otherwise until death.
The more than 125 striking prisoners launched their campaign on April 24 in protest against Israel’s continued use of detention without trial against Palestinians despite a 2012 promise to limit the use of administrative detention to exceptional cases.
That promise came as a result of a hunger strike involving more than 2,000 Palestinians that brought many to the brink of death.
Palestinians held in administrative detention are often held without charge or trial for months and without access to the evidence leading to their detention, even though international law stipulates this tactic only be used in exceptional circumstances.