UN concerned about Al-Qeeq’s condition

United Nations announced on Tuesday it was “deeply concerned” about the quick deterioration in the health condition of Palestinian hunger striking journalist Mohamed Al-Qeeq who is being held in an Israeli jail.

The UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Development Aid for the occupied Palestinian territories, Robert Piper, said he is “deeply concerned about the continued practice of administrative detention in Israeli jails and detention centres.”

He added that he “is alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating health of Palestinian administrative detainee Muhamed Al-Qeeq, who is on hunger strike in protest against the arbitrary nature of his detention and ill-treatment.”

According to data from the Israeli Prison Service, he said, there were 527 Palestinians, including one woman and five minors, who are held under administrative detention in Israeli prisons at the end of November 2015. Palestinian NGOs put the number at 650.

Piper’s spokesperson, Farhan Haqq, said: “Piper reiterated the United Nations’ long-standing position that all administrative detainees – Palestinian or Israeli – should be charged or released without delay. All allegations of ill-treatment must also be independently and promptly investigated.”

Al-Qeeq was put in administrative detention for six months; a system of endless and renewable imprisonment without charge or trial.

In protest against his detention, Al-Qeeq started a hunger strike which has now gone onto its 72th day. His health situation has deteriorated and led to him being hospitalised and risking organ failure. His lawyer said his legs have been chained to his hospital bed.

To date he has lost 35 kilogrammes and has had a mild stroke. Israeli officials began force-feeding him yesterday.

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