Palestinian hunger striker - 61 days, detained without charge, near death

KyussBishop

This has received little to no attention in most mainstream media (only read about it recently myself), and seems something that should be gathering a lot more attention/significance.

Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike for the last 61 days (apparently the longest hunger strike in Palestinian history), after being arrested without charge, and without a trial by the Israeli Army; he is currently shackled to a bed in an Israeli hospital.

His lawyers have petitioned for his release continuously over this period, but no date has been set for a hearing, despite his condition worsening and him now being near death.
He has appealed to stand trial, but on Monday this appeal was rejected, so it looks very likely that his hunger strike will continue until death.

It's reported that other Palestinian prisoners are starting to refuse food now as well, in solidarity with this.

A full article on this:

Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan 'near death' in Israeli detention
Medical report warns Israeli court Khader Adnan is in immediate danger after 61 days of protest at his 'administrative detention'

A Palestinian prisoner on his 61st day of hunger strike while shackled to a bed in an Israeli hospital is in immediate danger of death, according to a medical report submitted to the supreme court in an effort to secure his release.

Khader Adnan, 33, a baker from a village near Jenin, is being held without charge by the Israeli authorities under a four-month term of "administrative detention". He began his hunger strike on 18 December, the day after being arrested.

Adnan's lawyers have submitted a petition for his release to Israel's supreme court, but no date has been set for a hearing. The situation was urgent, lawyer Mahmoud Kassandra told the Guardian. "This is the last chance. The medical report says he could die at any minute. We hope this will succeed but I am not optimistic."

Adnan's hunger strike is in protest at his detention without charge or being told of any evidence against him, and over his claims of abuse and degrading treatment during arrest and interrogation. This is his ninth period of detention, according to reports. In the past he has acted as a spokesman for the militant group Islamic Jihad.

He was examined by a doctor from Physicians for Human Rights on Wednesday at the Rebecca Ziv hospital in Safed. Adnan was shackled by both legs and one arm, the doctor reported.

"He has lost 30kg and weighs 60kg. He suffers from stomach aches, vomiting, sometimes with blood, and headaches … His general condition is pale and very weak, his tongue is smooth, he has slight bleeding from the gums, dry skin, loss of hair, and significant muscular atrophy. His pulse is weak, blood pressure 100/75. He is permanently connected to a heart monitor."

Adnan agreed to be treated with an infusion of liquids and salts, with the addition of glucose and vitamins, the doctor reported. "However, he maintains his refusal to end his hunger strike." He was lucid and aware.

He was "in immediate danger of death," the doctor concluded. "An absolute hunger strike in excess of 50 days causes the decomposition of muscles... and the creation of toxins in the body. Death may occur suddenly, due to heart failure or the result of infection following the collapse of the immune system. Bleeding in the digestive tracts and renal or hepatic failure are possible.

"A fast in excess of 70 days does not permit survival. Infusion of liquids, adjustment of salts, and the addition of glucose and vitamin cannot prevent certain death due to such a protracted hunger strike."

Adnan's wife, Randa, his two daughters and his father were permitted to visit him on Wednesday, although his mother, sister and brother were refused.

"Randa told me he was very thin and his health was worsening but his mental health is good," his sister Maali said from the family home in Arrada. "But the whole family is worried, and Randa doesn't know if she will see him again."

Adnan's elder daughter, also called Maali, who is nearly 4, understood her father is very sick and was anxious about giving him a hug, the older Maali said. "She is telling her mother, please stop crying." The younger daugher, Bissan, is 18 months and Randa is six months pregnant with the couple's third child.

Following the visit, Adnan's father addressed a demonstration outside the hospital in solidarity with Adnan, reporting that his son's morale was high. "He does not undertake this hunger strike for its own sake, but he yearns for freedom for his people, for his countrymen, in order to live with heads held up high, without occupation," Jihad Adnan told protesters.

Thousands of Palestinians and other supporters of Adnan have protested in the West Bank and Gaza, and outside Ofer military prison near Jerusalem. There have been clashes with police, who have fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

According to Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners' support group, detainees in other prisons have also begun refusing food.

Many protesters say Adnan has become a symbol of Israel's occupation and its treatment of prisoners. More than 300 Palestinians are held under "administrative detention" orders in Israeli prisons.

The Palestinian Authority has appealed for Adnan's release. Physicians for Human Rights on Thursday urged to Israel's president, Shimon Peres, to intervene in the case because of the prisoner's dire medical condition.

Earlier this week, an Israeli military court rejected an appeal against Adnan's continued detention. The Israeli prison service has said Adnan was being dealt with in accordance to his "definition as a security-administrative prisoner" and with humanitarian sensitivity.

Adnan's hunger strike has attracted a big following on Twitter and Facebook. Many of his supporters complain his case is being ignored by the mainstream media. There has been little coverage in the the Israeli and international press.

Bobby Sands, the Irish republican prisoner who died on hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison in 1981, lasted 66 days without food. According to the British Medical Association, death generally occurs between 55 and 75 days of a hunger strike.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/16/khader-adnan-palestinian-hunger-strike

Must take an unbelievable amount of discipline/bravery to be able to do something like this, it's a very unpleasant way to go; I think it's disgusting that the Israeli Army has arrested him without even any charge, and is just leaving him to waste away like this (and also, that the Israeli government has not made any efforts to intervene).

seamus

With any luck his protest will bring the issue to international attention, but I can't see the Israelis feeling any pressure to release him. As far as they're concerned, if he dies than that's a result for them.

TheZohanS

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

Conall Cernach

I only heard about this in the last week or so too. It's a terrible thing to happen but I don't expect the Israeli army will give two f*cks what happens to this man.

As this is After Hours I fully expect a lot of sick posts about how he should be allowed to die etc. to spoil this thread.

Seachmall

He should totally be allowed to die.


/Thread spoiled

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

might have been a good idea to start doing this a long time ago instead of blowing up busses and randomly firing missiles into civilian areas

KyussBishop

Conall Cernach wrote: »

As this is After Hours I fully expect a lot of sick posts about how he should be allowed to die etc. to spoil this thread.

Perhaps; a wider audience though

wes

The Israeli's (and tbh the US and many other Western countries), don't particularly care about the lives of Palestinians. They will claim he is a terrorists or come up with some other lie to smear him, and say he deserved to die or some other excuse. He won't be released and he will sadly die, and his name will be probably be smeared with all sorts of lies.

dlofnep

mikemac1 wrote: »

Very possible he is guilty of something and deserves jail

Who needs a court date when you have already worked out the statistics for the possibilities of his guilt? The only thing he deserves at the moment is a charge and a fair trial.

wes

mikemac1 wrote: »

Very possible he is guilty of something and deserves jail
Without a court case and verdict who knows

Innocence is presumed generally in civilised countries. So until they can actually find him guilty at a fair trial (which won't happen as Palestinians are unlikely to recieve a fair trial from Israel), he is to be presumed innocent.

KyussBishop

wes wrote: »

The Israeli's (and tbh the US and many other Western countries), don't particularly care about the lives of Palestinians. They will claim he is a terrorists or come up with some other lie to smear him, and say he deserved to die or some other excuse. He won't be released and he will sadly die, and his name will be probably be smeared with all sorts of lies.

Indeed; it's a serious shame that this only seems to be gaining meager international attention now, when it's just about over for him.

I think over time, now that more and more people are gathering news disseminated over the internet, it's going to become more and more difficult for the governments/media organizations in Israel/US (and the western world in general) to downplay or ignore these kinds of inhuman actions/events.

I hope that as time goes on, the transformation between current media and the propagation of news on the internet, will turn this on its head eventually, so that stuff like this simply can't be hidden, downplayed or ignored.

Conall Cernach

mikemac1 wrote: »

Very possible he is guilty of something and deserves jail
Without a court case and verdict who knows

If the authorities have something then he should be charged and given a court date immediately

They must have very little evidence against him though if they have not charged him with a crime, don't you think? Here the word of a Garda Superintendent is considered good enough evidence to convict someone of membership of the IRA. I'd imagine the Israelis have similar laws that could be used to "legally" put people away if they choose to use them.

KyussBishop

Conall Cernach wrote: »

They must have very little evidence against him though if they have not charged him with a crime, don't you think? Here the word of a Garda Superintendent is considered good enough evidence to convict someone of membership of the IRA. I'd imagine the Israelis have similar laws that could be used to "legally" put people away if they choose to use them.

Yes, it's notable that they haven't even provided evidence against him, to try and justify his detainment:

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that Israel should "immediately end its unlawful administrative detention" of Khader Adnan and "charge or release him".
...
"Israel should end, today, before it's too late, its almost two-month-long refusal to inform Adnan of any criminal charge or evidence against him," Whitson said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/02/2012213153516502377.html

dlofnep

Sad thing is - by this stage, the damage is already done. Even if he ended his hunger strike, he'd be dead within a few years from internal organ damage.

ItsAWindUp

That's horrible:(

Ronin247

Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa is a spokesman for Islamic Jihad,an organisation funded by Syria and based out of Damascus.We sit here and cry about how our laws allow criminals to get away with things and complain when another state takes strong action.I am in no way condoning or condemning Isreal but lets be realistic

The aims of Islamic Jihad is the complete destruction of Israel.Some of their more infamous attacks.......


July 1989: Attack of Egged bus 405 along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway, at least 14 people killed (including two Canadians and one American) and dozens more wounded. Though intended to be a suicide attack, the perpetrator survived.

February 4, 1990: A bus carrying Israeli tourists in Egypt was attacked. The attack left 11 people, including nine Israelis, dead and 17 others injured.
April 1994: A car bomb aboard a public bus killed nine people and injured fifty.

April 1995: Suicide bomb in Netzarim and Kfar-Darom. The first bomb killed eight people and injured over 30 on an Israel bus. The second attack was a car bomb that injured twelve people.

March 1996: A Tel Aviv shopping mall is the site of another suicide bombing killing twenty and injuring seventy five.

November 2000: A car bomb in Jerusalem at an outdoor market killed two people and injured ten.

June 2001: Suicide bomb attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub killing twenty-one people.

March 2002: A suicide bomber killed seven people and injured approximately thirty aboard a bus travelling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth.

June 2002: Eighteen people are killed and fifty injured in a suicide attack at the Meggido Junction.

July 2002: A double suicide attack killed five people and injured 40 in Tel Aviv.

May 2003: Three people killed and eighty-three injured in a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in Afula.

August 2003: A suicide bomber killed twenty-one people and injured over one hundred on a bus in Jerusalem.
October 2003: Suicide bomber killed twenty-two and injured sixty at a Haifa restaurant.

October 2005: A bomb detonated in a Hedera market was responsible for killing five people.

April 2006: Suicide bomb in Tel Aviv killed eleven.

January 2007: Both the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PIJ claim responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Eliat bakery that killed three.

They have carried out many attacks on military targets but look at the above list...Busses,Markets,Restaurants and nightclubs, deliberate targetting of civilians.These are the people this man is a spokesman and suspected leader of.He has all my sympathy.

bobmalooka

Ronin247 wrote: »

Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa is a spokesman for Islamic Jihad,an organisation funded by Syria and based out of Damascus.We sit here and cry about how our laws allow criminals to get away with things and complain when another state takes strong action.I am in no way condoning or condemning Isreal but lets be realistic

The aims of Islamic Jihad is the complete destruction of Israel.Some of their more infamous attacks.......


July 1989: Attack of Egged bus 405 along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway, at least 14 people killed (including two Canadians and one American) and dozens more wounded. Though intended to be a suicide attack, the perpetrator survived.

February 4, 1990: A bus carrying Israeli tourists in Egypt was attacked. The attack left 11 people, including nine Israelis, dead and 17 others injured.
April 1994: A car bomb aboard a public bus killed nine people and injured fifty.

April 1995: Suicide bomb in Netzarim and Kfar-Darom. The first bomb killed eight people and injured over 30 on an Israel bus. The second attack was a car bomb that injured twelve people.

March 1996: A Tel Aviv shopping mall is the site of another suicide bombing killing twenty and injuring seventy five.

November 2000: A car bomb in Jerusalem at an outdoor market killed two people and injured ten.

June 2001: Suicide bomb attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub killing twenty-one people.

March 2002: A suicide bomber killed seven people and injured approximately thirty aboard a bus travelling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth.

June 2002: Eighteen people are killed and fifty injured in a suicide attack at the Meggido Junction.

July 2002: A double suicide attack killed five people and injured 40 in Tel Aviv.

May 2003: Three people killed and eighty-three injured in a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in Afula.

August 2003: A suicide bomber killed twenty-one people and injured over one hundred on a bus in Jerusalem.
October 2003: Suicide bomber killed twenty-two and injured sixty at a Haifa restaurant.

October 2005: A bomb detonated in a Hedera market was responsible for killing five people.

April 2006: Suicide bomb in Tel Aviv killed eleven.

January 2007: Both the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PIJ claim responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Eliat bakery that killed three.

They have carried out many attacks on military targets but look at the above list...Busses,Markets,Restaurants and nightclubs, deliberate targetting of civilians.These are the people this man is a spokesman and suspected leader of.He has all my sympathy.

and if he has committed a crime he deserves to be punished. untill then...

mikemac1

dlofnep wrote: »

Who needs a court date when you have already worked out the statistics for the possibilities of his guilt?

You seriously misquoted me there

My post had he should be charged if they have anything and given a court date immediately

But that line was added as a ninja edit so maybe it wasn't there when you quoted and that's my fault

I think the post was balanced but tbh these threads get heated so I'll add no more

Edit, I think this post was a good reply to it
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77121288&postcount=13

Ronin247

bobmalooka wrote: »

and if he has committed a crime he deserves to be punished. untill then...

Israel has the "administrative detention" thing where they do not have to charge him.
Not saying it is right or wrong but it is the law of that country.

KyussBishop

Ronin247 wrote: »

Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa is a spokesman for Islamic Jihad,an organisation funded by Syria and based out of Damascus.We sit here and cry about how our laws allow criminals to get away with things and complain when another state takes strong action.I am in no way condoning or condemning Isreal but lets be realistic
...
These are the people this man is a spokesman and suspected leader of.He has all my sympathy.

The organizations past actions are indeed terrible, and I condemn them myself, but this person was a spokesman; if he was a leader or if he participated in any such attacks (no evidence has been put forward suggesting that), then he should be charged and put on trial.

To just let him waste away (and soon, die) like this, is extremely inhumane (to say the least), and does deserve condemnation.
In addition, the fact that the Israeli government gives themselves the power to detain people like this, without even an accusation (nevermind a charge or trial), also deserves condemnation.

bijapos

dlofnep wrote: »

Sad thing is - by this stage, the damage is already done. Even if he ended his hunger strike, he'd be dead within a few years from internal organ damage.

Tom McFeely, the developer who owns Coalport and who built the infamous Priory Hall scheme was on hunger strike for 53 days in 1980. I know theres a point of no return, and people react differently to hunger strikes but it doesnt necessarily mean he will be dead in a few years if he came off the strike now. He could survive several decades.

Nodin

Ronin247 wrote: »

Israel has the "administrative detention" thing where they do not have to charge him.
Not saying it is right or wrong but it is the law of that country.

It's fairly obvious where your sympathy lies, so throwing in "not saying"/"I am in no way condoning or condemning " is a bit pointless at this stage.

IcedOut

Im sure the Israeli government wont give a sh!t

mongdesade

Ronin247 wrote: »

Israel has the "administrative detention" thing where they do not have to charge him.
Not saying it is right or wrong but it is the law of that country.

Administrative detention = Internment

A convenient term used by oppressive regimes/occupying forces to justify illegal detention without charge of 'subversives/terrorists' or those that simply oppose the imposed 'status quo' forced upon them by same...

didnt take long for the smear campaign to start

wes

Ronin247 wrote: »

They have carried out many attacks on military targets but look at the above list...Busses,Markets,Restaurants and nightclubs, deliberate targetting of civilians.These are the people this man is a spokesman and suspected leader of.He has all my sympathy.

So I take it you think Israeli spokes people should similarly be held without trial, afterall there government engaged in numerous atrocities against civilians. Of course, if Palestinians were to do the same with an Israeli, there would be a huge out cry from Western governments and people like yourself.

KeithAFC

He should get off the hunger strike and perhaps look at other ways to get back at Israel.

Seachmall

KeithAFC wrote: »

He should get off the hunger strike and perhaps look at other ways to get back at Israel.

He's fairly limited in his options given he's currently shackled to a bed.

KeithAFC

Seachmall wrote: »

He's fairly limited in his options given he's currently shackled to a bed.

Which is his own doing. No one forced him to not eat food. This is the legacy of 1981. Everyone who goes on hunger strike now will think it will lead to good propaganda and it will be used world wide. First time I have heard of this. Isn't working.

Seachmall

KeithAFC wrote: »

Which is his own doing.

He didn't shackle himself to the bed...

fedor.2.

Anti Israel day today is it, somebody should have told me, i would have made more of an effort to get my facts wrong

Seachmall

fedor.2. wrote: »

Anti Israel day today is it, somebody should have told me, i would have made more of an effort to get my facts wrong

I believe you're looking for this thread, and poll option 3.

fedor.2.

Seachmall wrote: »

I believe you're looking for this thread, and poll option 3.

You believe a lot but know very little

KyussBishop

KeithAFC wrote: »

Seachmall wrote: »

He's fairly limited in his options given he's currently shackled to a bed.

Which is his own doing. No one forced him to not eat food. This is the legacy of 1981. Everyone who goes on hunger strike now will think it will lead to good propaganda and it will be used world wide. First time I have heard of this. Isn't working.

Yes, how dare he protest his false imprisonment (which, if I understand correctly, is his own fault too ) by starving himself to death, the dirty propagandist.

Conall Cernach

I wonder how some of the posters here would react if they were interned without charge. "Ah sure the law says they can do it so it must be ok." It's small wonder the country is in the state it is.

TwoShedsJackson

As if the Israeli government will give a **** if some Palestinian starves himself to death. He'd have been better off looking after himself and waiting until they decided to free him and 1000 of his mates to get one of their soldiers back, then carried on the good fight again from the outside. Anyone who kills themselves as a protest is a fool.

Seachmall

fedor.2. wrote: »

You believe a lot but know very little

Great sound bite there but... does it mean anything...?

No, no it doesn't

My name is URL

fedor.2. wrote: »

Anti Israel day today is it, somebody should have told me, i would have made more of an effort to get my facts wrong

Those poor persecuted Israelis.. having people talk about their abuses of human rights. It's a cruel world.

mikom

KyussBishop wrote: »

This has received little to no attention in most mainstream media

Two guesses as to who controls
ABC,
NBC,
CBS,
CNN,

Nodin

mikom wrote: »

Two guesses as to who controls
ABC,
NBC,
CBS,
CNN,

I've no idea. Please inform us.

lividduck

The guy wants to kill himself so as to incite others to murder....let him, the world needs less terrorists.

Nodin

lividduck wrote: »

The guy wants to kill himself so as to incite others to murder....let him, the world needs less terrorists.

Looks to me like he wants out.

ItsAWindUp

lividduck wrote: »

The guy wants to kill himself so as to incite others to murder....let him, the world needs less terrorists.

He is not a terrorist. He has not recieved a trial, he is unjustly being held without charge.

lividduck

Conall Cernach wrote: »

I wonder how some of the posters here would react if they were interned without charge. "Ah sure the law says they can do it so it must be ok." It's small wonder the country is in the state it is.

Yea, the nerve of these jews expecting to be allowed to live in peace in their homeland.
Who started the yom kippur war? NOT ISRAEL.
Who started the 6 day war NOT ISRAEL.
If you are that interested in human rights look to Syria, Libya,Iran.
Last time I checked the Israelis were not publicly hanging gays!

Guy:Incognito

Conall Cernach wrote: »

I wonder how some of the posters here would react if they were interned without charge. "Ah sure the law says they can do it so it must be ok." It's small wonder the country is in the state it is.

Personally I wouldnt react by not eating. A few months chained to a hospital bed wont kill me. Not eating probably will.

ItsAWindUp

lividduck wrote: »

Yea, the nerve of these jews expecting to be allowed to live in peace in their homeland.
Who started the yom kippur war? NOT ISRAEL.
Who started the 6 day war NOT ISRAEL.
If you are that interested in human rights look to Syria, Libya,Iran.
Last time I checked the Israelis were not publicly hanging gays!

Highly debatable to be fair

My name is URL

lividduck wrote: »

The guy wants to kill himself so as to incite others to murder

Yet some who oppose it are at the same time enabling him to do so.

....let him, the world needs less terrorists.

..and more peddlers of the idea that we are all under siege from terrorists.

Nodin

lividduck wrote: »

Yea, the nerve of these(.......)gays!

Actually if the Israeli state did just confine itself to its recognised borders, I'm sure a lot of the trouble would, in fact, leave them alone.

lividduck wrote: »

If you are that interested in human rights look to Syria, Libya,Iran!

All of whom were (and two of whom still are) under various international sanctions.

You are aware of the kind of brutality Israel has and does inflict on the population of the occupied territories?

Jaafa

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Personally I wouldnt react by not eating. A few months chained to a hospital bed wont kill me. Not eating probably will.

If they can sentence a 14 year old to 3 and a half years for throwing stones, then imagine what trumped charge they'll give this man in the end. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/25/child-prisoners-israel-jails

In October 2008, Haaretz reported that 600 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention in Israel, including "about 15 minors who do not know even know why they are being detained."http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/two-palestinian-girls-detained-in-israel-without-trial-for-months-1.255577

You understand what administrative detention is right? Held without trial, sometimes for years on end, mini Git-mo in other words. Never mind they fact that it includes minors, completely and totally illegal under any international laws.

This is nothing new, just something that comes and goes in the media, when men like this risk their lives to bring it to peoples attention.

If he lives, he won't be getting out for several years at least.

Guy:Incognito

Jaafa wrote: »

You understand what administrative detention is right? Held without trial, sometimes for years on end, mini Git-mo in other words..

You understand what dead is right? Not alive forever.

Jaafa

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

You understand what dead is right? Not alive forever.

Some people believe some fates to be worse than death, you clearly don't, and that's fine.