Hunger strike for father of Jordanian prisoner in Israel

Mehdi Suleiman, the father of Mohammad, an 18-year-old Jordanian prisoner in Israel, began an open-ended strike against food and medication four days ago, in front of the Jordanian ministry of foreign affairs.

Suleiman announced that he would maintain his strike until he could see his son: "I will continue, until either I visit my son or die."

Mohammad has not been formally charged, he said.

"My son has spent three years in Israeli jails accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and he has yet to receive a court sentence," said the father on Wednesday.

Suleiman accuses the Jordanian ministry of foreign affairs of procrastination in arranging for him to visit his son. Suleiman claims his son has been tortured at the hands of his jailers throughout his imprisonment.

The father said that the ministry of foreign affairs had promised to arrange for him to visit his son two months ago.

Mohammad, who holds Jordanian citizenship and a Palestinian identification card, was arrested by Israeli authorities three years ago when he was still a child, while he was visiting the West Bank with his mother.

He was accused of throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers and faces 27 different charges including attempted murder, according to the father.

Suleiman criticised the Jordanian government's lack of interest in his son's case. Mohammed is thought to be the youngest Jordanian prisoner currently in Israeli jails. The Jordanian embassy in Tel Aviv has neither visited his son, nor appointed him a defence lawyer, said Suleiman.

The "National Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons in Zionist Prisons" has called on Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to arrange for the families of Jordanian prisoners in Israeli prisons to visit their loved ones.

In a letter addressed to the government, the committee held the foreign ministry responsible "for the neglect of the issue of Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails".

According to the committee, the last time the ministry organised a trip for Jordanian families to visit their loved ones in Israeli prisons was in 2008, and it did not include the families of all 25 Jordanians held in Israel.

This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.