[Ppnews] Amnesty to Israel: Release or try Khader Adnan, gravely ill after 51 days hunger strike

[Political Prisoner News]

Amnesty to Israel: Release or try Khader Adnan, 
gravely ill after 51 days hunger strike

Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 20:20
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-israel-release-or-try-khader-adnan-gravely-ill-after-51-days-hunger 


Adnan Khader, the head of the Islamic Jihad 
Movement in the West Bank, talking to the media 
after a meeting with the Palestinian President 
Mahmoud Abbas in the Muqata in the West Bank town of Ramallah June 28, 2005.
(<http://electronicintifada.net/people/mushir-abdelrahman>Mushir 
Abdelrahman / <http://electronicintifada.net/people/maan-images>Maan Images)

Amnesty International today told Israel to 
release or try 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/khader-adnan>Khader 
Adnan, the gravely ill Palestinian prisoner who 
has been on hunger strike for 51 continuous days, 
ever since his arrest by Israeli occupation 
forces in the West Bank on 17 December.

Amnesty’s demand came as 
<http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=458276>Musa 
Adnan, Khader’s elderly father, announced that he 
was going on hunger strike too in solidarity with 
his son – whom doctors said is at 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinian-detainee-khader-adnan-risk-imminent-death-after-45-days-hunger-strike#>risk 
of imminent death.

Adnan’s hunger strike is to protest the fact that 
he has been held by Israel without charge or 
trial in so-called 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/administrative-detention>administrative 
detention, and mistreatment by Israeli interrogators.

About 300 Palestinian prisoners, including 21 
elected members of the Palestinian legislative 
council, are currently in administrative 
detention according to 
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/israel-must-release-or-charge-palestinian-detainee-prolonged-hunger-strike-2012-02-06>today’s 
statement from Amnesty.

The statements adds:

“For years Israel has been using administrative 
detention to lock up Palestinian activists 
without charge or trial, said Ann Harrison, 
Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East.

“Military commanders can renew the detention 
orders repeatedly, so in effect detainees can be 
held indefinitely. The process violates their 
right to a fair trial which is guaranteed by 
international law Israel is obliged to uphold.”

Yet even if Israel does heed Amnesty’s call to 
charge and try Adnan, he’d hardly be likely to 
get a fair trial. Like thousands of other 
Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli 
jails, he would be subjected to 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-military-court-system>Israel’s 
military occupation courts in which all the 
prosecutors and judges are officers in the Israeli occupation army.


Text of Amnesty statement

Israel must release or try Palestinian detainee on prolonged hunger strike

6 February 2012

The Israeli authorities must release a 
Palestinian detainee or charge him with a 
recognizable criminal offence and promptly try 
him, Amnesty International said today amid fears 
the man could die in detention after more than 50 days on hunger strike.

Khader Adnan, 33, was arrested on 17 December 
2011 at his home in the village of Arrabe near 
Jenin in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli 
security forces burst into his home in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Adnan, a baker, is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement.

On Wednesday a military court conducted a review 
of Khader Adnan’s case but the judge has yet to 
announce the outcome - release, his detention shortened or the order confirmed.

“For years Israel has been using administrative 
detention to lock up Palestinian activists 
without charge or trial, said Ann Harrison, 
Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East.

“Military commanders can renew the detention 
orders repeatedly, so in effect detainees can be 
held indefinitely. The process violates their 
right to a fair trial which is guaranteed by 
international law Israel is obliged to uphold.”

Khader Adnan, who is also a post-graduate 
student, has been on hunger strike since 18 
December in protest against his ill-treatment, 
the conditions of his detention, and the policy of administrative detention.

The Israeli military commander in the West Bank 
imposed a four-month administrative detention order on him last month.

The baker has been hospitalized since 30 December 
as his health deteriorated. He has not been 
allowed any family visits and the Israeli 
authorities have since moved him to various 
different hospitals around the country.

He was transferred to Ziv hospital in northern 
Israel on Sunday, in a move which his lawyers 
believe is intended to add further pressure on 
him, including by making it harder for his lawyers and family to visit him.

“The Israeli authorities must release Khader 
Adnan and other Palestinians held in 
administrative detention, unless they are 
promptly charged with internationally 
recognizable criminal offences and tried in 
accordance with international fair trial standards,” Ann Harrison added.

He has reportedly lost more than 20 kilos since 
he began his hunger strike, and his health has 
reached a critical stage. On 29 January, he was 
visited by doctors from Physicians for Human 
Rights - Israel, who gave him a medical check and 
warned that his life is at risk. He has since 
been denied further examination by independent doctors.

His hunger strike has prompted demonstrations in 
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and last week other 
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails announced a hunger strike in solidarity.

Administrative detention, a procedure under which 
detainees considered a threat to Israeli security 
are held without charge or trial for periods of 
up to six months, can be renewed indefinitely.

No criminal charges are filed against 
administrative detainees and there is no intention of bringing them to trial.

Detainees are held on the basis of “secret 
evidence” which the Israeli military authorities 
claim cannot be revealed for security reasons.

The “secret evidence” on which the military 
authorities base their decision to issue an 
administrative detention order is not made 
available to detainees or their lawyers, and 
detainees cannot challenge the reasons for their detention.

According to Israel’s prison service some 307 
Palestinians were being held in administrative 
detention on 31 December last year, but this number may have since increased.

Twenty-one members of the Palestinian Legislative 
Council are currently being held in administrative detention.

Amnesty International believes that the practice 
of administrative detention in Israel and the 
Occupied Territories violates the internationally 
recognized right to a fair trial which must be 
upheld for all detainees, even during states of emergency.

“Israeli military law applied in the Occupied 
Palestinian Territories gives the authorities 
wide latitude to charge and try in military 
courts those individuals who they believe 
threaten Israeli security,” said Ann Harrison.

“Despite this, the Israeli authorities continue 
to use administrative detention to detain 
Palestinians without any charges whatsoever. 
These have included individuals who should not 
have been arrested at all and were prisoners of conscience.

“Anyone now held solely for the non-violent 
exercise of their right to freedom of expression, 
association and assembly must be released immediately and unconditionally.”





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