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Hunger striker moved to intensive care ahead of court decision over force feeding

December 20, 2016 at 5:14 pm

Image of the hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Anas Shadid [Maannews]

Hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Anas Shadid was transferred to the intensive care unit of Israel’s Assaf Harofeh hospital after his health deteriorated severely yesterday, a day before the Israeli Supreme Court was set to decide whether or not to force feed Shadid and fellow hunger striker Ahmad Abu Farah.

Shadid and Abu Farah were both detained on 1 August and have been on hunger strike since 24 September and 23 September respectively, in protest of their imprisonment under administrative detention.

Head of the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqe said in a statement yesterday that Shadid and Abu Farah, who are both approaching their 90th day without food, suffer from various pains in their bodies and could face sudden death at any moment.

Qaraqe condemned the Israeli Supreme Court after they said in a pre-hearing discussion with the Israeli general persecution Sunday that they were considering force feeding the two hunger strikers.

He told Palestinian radio station Mawtini that such a move would represent a clear intention to kill Shadid and Abu Farah, describing the suggestion to force feed the two as “shameless”.

Qaraqe expressed outrage that Israel was mulling the possibility of force feeding, rather than considering the severity of the hunger strikers’ health by responding to the reasons that lead them to launch their strikes in the first place.

As Abu Farah and Shadid’s case is the first that has come to the fore since the Supreme Court approved of a new Israeli law that allows the force feeding of hunger-striking prisoners, Qaraqe noted that the practice still contravenes international law and is widely regarded by both international and Israeli medical ethics as a form of torture as well as a violation of prisoners’ rights.

In addition to refusing food for nearly 90 days, Abu Farah and Shadid began refusing to consume water last Monday after the court rejected a prior appeal to release them, when Israeli prosecutors instead called for the extension of their administrative detention orders, which sparked the two prisoners’ hunger strikes in the first place.