ALBAWABA - Administrative Detainees Committee in Palestine announced in a press statement that a number of Palestinian administrative detainees will be launching an open hunger strike, starting Sunday, June 18.
The committee added that not only would the administrative detainees from various Palestinian political factions resort to the open-ended hunger strike, but they would also continue to boycott Israeli courts as a means of drawing attention to the violation of their rights, WAFA News Agency reported.
In its press statement, the committee emphasized the importance of putting an end to the administrative detention, and for Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.
The Administrative Detainees Committee held a round of talks with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), with the main demand being to end the administrative detention system, and the immediate release of terminally ill prisoner Walid Daqqa.
Daqqa's health has been deteriorating as Israeli authorities are deliberately neglecting his medical condition which is worsening day by day, as he suffers from advanced bone marrow cancer.
This Israeli widely criticized practice allows Israeli authorities to detain Palestinians for an extended period of time without official charges being pressed based on covered evidence that even a detainee's lawyer is forbidden from accessing.
Amnesty International called Israel's practice of administratively detaining prisoners a “bankrupt tactic”. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, 1,014 Palestinians are placed under “administrative detention”.
