RAMALLAH – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed extreme concern about the worsening health of seven Palestinian detainees who are on long-term hunger strike. “The ICRC is particularly worried about Imad Abdelaziz Abdallah Al-Batran, who has been on hunger strike for several weeks,” the ICRC said in a statement. Al-Batran has been on hunger strike since 7 May 2013 in protest of his administrative detention. As punishment, he was put in isolation at Ofer military camp to the west of Ramallah. He has since been moved to Ramleh Prison Hospital. Juan Pedro Schaerer, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, said that “the life of hunger striker Imad Batran is at immediate risk unless the detaining authorities find a prompt solution.”
The ICRC added that any solution has to take into consideration the fact that detainees cannot be forced to eat or receive medical treatment. It is essential that their choice be respected and their dignity preserved, it added. The Israeli forces arrested al-Batran on 18 November 2011 from the West Bank town of Ithna, to the northwest of Hebron, for resisting Israeli occupation. Since then, he has been held in administrative detention with no charges or trial. He was previously detained for a number of years, most of which were in administrative detention. The arrests began in 1994 where he was sentenced a year and a half. In 2003, he spent 3 months in administrative detention, and then another 6 months in 2005 and finally 19 months in 2008 before his current arrest. The Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Issa Qaraqi' said that the Al-Batran's health was deteriorating since his arrest. Qaraqi' told the Voice of Palestine Radio that the prisoner is suffering from blockages in the blood vessels, arthritis and loss of weight. According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Batran, who was being held by Israel in administrative detention, has been refusing food since May 5. The minister said that the seven prisoners “send back their meals, calling on Israel occupation authorities end their administrative detention.” He added that they were being held in Israeli hospitals and not prison. The development comes a day after Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails announced that they will start in the coming days several protest measures against their detention. Fouad Al-khoffash, the head of the Ahrar Center for Detainees Studies and Human Rights, said that the 180 prisoners decided to launch their protest measures on 1 September. Al-khoffash added that “the prisoners will develop their protest measures into an open hunger strike on 1October.” The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved early this month the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, in order to facilitate the resumption of peace talks and “to strengthen (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas.” On early Wednesday, the first 26 prisoners were freed — 11 to the West Bank and 15 to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Some 5,100 Palestinian and Arab prisoners remain in Israeli jails. The US hopes Israelis and Palestinians can reach a deal within nine months, though expectations on all sides are low.
