Israel to release hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner held without trial

Israel to release hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner held without trial
Israeli military prosecutors have said that they will not seek to renew an administrative detention order against Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for over three weeks.
2 min read
24 June, 2021
Israel currently holds over 4,000 Palestinian prisoners in its jails [Getty]

Israeli military prosecutors on Wednesday announced that they would not seek to renew an administrative detention order against Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who has been on hunger strike for 25 consecutive days.

The prosecutors' decision means that Adnan, who was detained by Israeli forces on 29 May, will be released on Monday.

Palestinian lawyer Jawad Boulous said in a statement that Adnan, who is a leader in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad faction, was expected to suspend his hunger strike within hours.

Israel currently holds over 4,000 Palestinians prisoners, including children, according to the human rights organisation B'Tselem, and hundreds of them are held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Adnan, a father of nine, has been arrested by Israel twelve times and spent roughly eight years in Israeli prisons – all of them in administrative detention.

He has gone on hunger strike four times before to protest against being held without charge.

On Monday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an NGO which campaigns for the rights of Palestinian detainees, accused Israel of deliberately neglecting the health of Palestinian detainees as another prisoner held in administrative detention, Ghadanfar Abu Atwan, lost consciousness on the 48th day of his hunger strike.

Abu Atwan was detained by Israeli forces in October 2020 and his lawyers have been prevented from visiting him at the hospital where he is being treated.