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Brazilian on hunger strike in Palestine gets support from social media

April 26, 2015 at 2:04 pm

Friends and relatives of Islam Hamed, the Brazilian-Palestinian man who started a hunger strike in a Palestinian prison, have launched a campaign on social networking sites urging authorities to have him released and send him back to Brazil safely. They have created a Facebook page entitled “Libertem o Islam” (Portuguese for “free Islam”). On Thursday (Apr 23), his mother, Brazilian national Nádia Hamed, managed to visit him in jail in Nablus, Palestine, and told family members in Brazil by phone that his son’s health condition is critical.

Islam Hamed is Palestinian, but his mother Nádia Hamed is from São Paulo, which earns him Brazilian citizenship as well.

Aged 30, Hamed was arrested for the first time at the age of 17, by the Israeli authorities. Never again was he able to lead a normal life. He was condemned to five years in jail. Nine months after the end of his sentence, he was imprisoned again under a process called administrative detention, in spite of not facing any concrete charges. In Israel, a person may be kept under custody if the government believes they pose a risk to security. His second custody lasted two years. In 2010, Hamed became once again involved with opposition groups in Palestine, and months later was detained for the third time, now by the Palestinian government.

“My son is in very poor health. We don’t know how to help. All doors seem to be locked. I don’t know what to do,” Nádia Hamed told the Brazil Communication Company (EBC) by phone, on April 19.

In 2013, twenty days before the end of his sentence, Palestinian officials announced he was be granted permission to move to Brazil. Despite his valid Brazilian passport and the fact that his wife and 3-year-old son hold an entry visa, nothing has been done, Hamed’s relatives say.

On Thursday (15), Hamed’s relations in Brazil filed a formal request for help to the Brazilian government. A letter was sent to the Presidency’s Special Advisor for International Affairs Marco Aurélio Garcia. In 2013, Hamed’s relatives in Brazil asked the Brazilian Embassy for Middle Eastern Affairs for an intervention in the case. The request was also submitted to its Brazilian branch in Palestine. Brazil’s ambassador to Palestine Paulo França argues that the situation is a delicate one and says that negotiations with the Palestinian government are underway. His family, however, questions the sluggishness in the case, and fear that a currently unreachable Hamed may not resist the hunger strike.

On the 12th day without food and the third day with no water, Hamed has lost 11kg, can no longer stand up, and has been given intravenous doses of serum. Despite his serious health condition, he has been firm in his decision to continue striking, and not drinking any water.

Hamed is visited by a doctor twice a day. Nonetheless, he is still forced to stay in a cell with lights constantly on, which classifies as torture. The justification given by Palestine’s ambassador to Brazil Ibrahim Alzbien had Hamed’s family members outraged. “We were shocked to hear the Palestinian ambassador’s statement saying that, if there’s torture, that’s because there’s been misbehavior, which shows he supports the torture against the Brazilian prisoner. The Brazilian government had to take emergency action, because Hamed’s life is hanging by a thread,” said Hamed’s aunt Mariam Baker, who lives in São Paulo.

The Palestinian authorities say Hamed has been kept under arrest for his own safety, as, once released, he could be taken to prison by Israel. Brazilian officials claim they have made successive attempts to obtain Hamed’s release, with both the Palestinian and the Israeli governments, but no deal seems likely to be reached. In the view of Mohamad El Bacha, head of the São Paulo Muslim Association, it is crucial that the Brazilian government, along with that of Israel, ensures Hamed’s departure from Palestine and safe return to Brazil.

This item was written by Eliane Gonçalves for EBC.