Kayed to be released on 12 December

Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed, who ended his 71-day hunger strike yesterday, will be released from Israeli custody on 12 December, prisoners’ rights group Addameer announced today.

Addameer General Director Sahar Francis said that an agreement was reached yesterday between Kayed’s lawyer Mahmoud Hassan and the Israeli military prosecution to release him in December upon completion of his six months in administrative detention.

The prisoner, whose health has deteriorated greatly during his hunger strike, will reportedly stay in hospital until his health fully recovers, Francis said.
Issa Qaraqe, the head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, said that the agreement marked a “victory” for Kayed over Israeli administrative detention and a victory for all Palestinians, proving that “administrative detention is an illegal and punitive procedure by Israel against the Palestinian people.”

Kayed went on hunger strike in June after Israeli authorities sentenced him to administrative detention on the day he was scheduled to be released from prison after serving a 14-and-a-half year sentence.