Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who had been on a starvation strike in an Israeli jail for 87 days to protest his detention, died early Tuesday, based on his lawyer and Palestinian and Israeli officers.
It was Mr. Adnan, 44, who helped usher within the follow of particular person starvation strikes by Palestinian prisoners, conducting a 66-day strike in 2011 that impressed others to make use of it as a method of protesting Israel’s incarceration of Palestinians, particularly the follow of administrative detention.
This time, Mr. Adnan had been on a starvation strike since his arrest on Feb. 5. In current days, Israeli medical doctors had warned that his demise was “imminent” and known as for him to be transferred to a hospital.
Israel had accused Mr. Adnan of being affiliated with Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian resistance group, and he was arrested on suspicion of membership in a terrorist group, assist for terrorism and incitement.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stated it held Israel totally chargeable for his demise, known as for a world investigation and stated it deliberate to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.
“The Israeli occupation and its prison administration carried out a deliberate assassination against the prisoner Khader Adnan by rejecting his request for his release, neglecting him medically and keeping him in his cell despite the seriousness of his health condition,” the Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, stated in a press release.
The Israeli jail authorities denied that that they had uncared for Mr. Adnan and stated he refused medical remedy.
“He decided to go on hunger strike and he refused any medical examination and any medical treatment,” stated Hana Herbst, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service. “We couldn’t have done anything different other than forcing him to take medical treatment, which we can’t do.”
Mr. Adnan, who lived within the city of Arraba within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had been imprisoned by Israel quite a few instances, usually underneath administrative detention, a follow Israel makes use of to indefinitely detain folks with out prices or trials, primarily based on secret proof. He was a father of 9, based on Palestinian state media.
Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, a household medication specialist and chairwoman of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, visited Mr. Adnan on April 23 and stated he struggled to maneuver and keep a fundamental dialog. His limbs had atrophied and he was dangerously emaciated, weighing lower than 125 kilos, based on her evaluation, the group stated in its assertion.
Dr. Qasem-Hassan had warned that his situation would solely worsen.
Mr. Adnan was being held on the Israel Prison Service medical heart and was discovered unconscious in his cell on Tuesday, based on jail authorities. He was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation after which transferred to a hospital, the place he was pronounced useless.
Following the news of his demise, the Israeli army reported that three rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel, the place they fell into open areas. There was no quick declare of accountability.
Palestinian armed resistance teams like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the primary teams within the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, have commonly threatened to strike Israel if a hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner died.
In January 2022, a 141-day starvation strike by Hisham Abu Hawash, who was being held in administrative detention, got here near sparking a battle between Israel and the Palestinian armed teams.
Israel had accused Mr. Abu Hawash of involvement in plans to assault Israelis however had not charged him or put him on trial. Mr. Abu Hawash ultimately ended his strike after Israel agreed to launch him.
In the wake of Mr. Adnan’s demise, Tuesday, Hamas stated that Israeli crimes towards Palestinians “must not go unnoticed.”
Ms. Herbst stated that Mr. Adnan had been taken to a hospital on quite a few events, however every time he had refused medical remedy and was transferred again to the Israeli jail medical heart.
Mr. Adnan had stated he needed to be hospitalized and gave three circumstances for present process medical examinations, which included permitting his household to go to him, being accompanied by a physician from the rights group and that his medical data wouldn’t be shared with the Israeli jail service, based on the Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
“According to medical ethics principles, Adnan’s requests are reasonable,” Anat Litvin, the director of the group’s prisoners and detainees division, stated within the assertion on Monday. “There is no reason to deny them other than a desire to punish him and end his strike. This is a clear power struggle between the security authorities and the hunger striker.”
In an interview with The New York Times final yr, Mr. Adnan described starvation strikes as a vital weapon in resisting Israeli occupation. He pushed for hunger-strike ways to take care of strain on the Israeli authorities, together with refusing to take meals dietary supplements or nutritional vitamins and refusing medical checkups.
“This is a weapon for our people,” he stated. “And we need to preserve the quality of this weapon.”
Source: www.nytimes.com