Israel releases Palestinian hunger striker Al-Qeeq

Israeli authorities released Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Al-Qeeq on Thursday. Al-Qeeq, had been held in the Nafha Prison for more than two months after a deal was reached to release him under the condition that he ended his hunger strike in February.

Al-Qeeq’s wife Faihaa Shalash told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that the Israeli authorities freed her husband and he was being transferred to Dhahriya, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where his family and many of his fans would be welcoming him.

The family had invited Palestinians to take part in a festive welcoming of Al-Qeeq on Friday at his birth city of Dora, south of Hebron.

In February, Al-Qeeq suspended a hunger strike he has observed for 94 days in protest against his administrative detention. As his medical condition deteriorated, Palestinian figures and Arab members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, entered into mediation efforts to save his life and reached with the Israeli authorities a deal stipulating his release on 21 May. But Israel released him on Thursday, 20 May, as part of procedures adopted by the Israel Prison Service.

The deal also entailed that Al-Qeeq would continue to be treated in Israeli hospitals by an Arab team of doctors, with his family allowed to visit him while he was hospitalized. He was discharged from the hospital on April after receiving medical treatment.

Al-Qeeq worked as a correspondent for the Saudi satellite channel Al-Majd when he was arrested from his home in Ramallah on 21 November. Israeli authorities threatened to keep him in administrative detention for up to seven years. But Al-Qeeq went on an open hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention.

His family had told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed  earlier than his health has improved and he gained weight after receiving medical treatment after the hunger strike had caused him a severe loss of weight as well as spams and chest convulsions.

His famous hunger strike had earned him wide popular support and caused anger among Israeli circles.