Palestine: Ghannam completes 100 days of hunger strike

Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Ghannam completed his 100th day without food Monday, along with five other prisoners, in a protest against the Israeli occupation authorities.

The Prisoner Club, a non-governmental organisation focused on prisoners issues, said that Ghannam, 42, from the town of Dura west of Hebron will face a hearing Wednesday in the Israeli Supreme Court.

The club said Ghannam has been transferred to the Israeli hospital, Kaplan. Israeli occupation authorities continue to deny his family from visiting him and impose torture measures against him. These measures started from the moment he announced the strike when he was isolated and harassed through jailers and held in forceful and challenging conditions in the cells of Ramleh-Nitzan detention centre before being recently transferred to hospital.

This prisoner, who is a father of two children, was arrested on 18 June 2019, and was then transferred to administrative detention by the Israeli authorities under the so-called “secret file”. He is currently in a severe health situation, especially as he has previously had cancer, and he needs to be continuously followed up, in addition to being immuno-deficient.

READ: Hunger striker reveals details of her horrific torture in Israeli prisons

Along with prisoner Ghannam, there are five prisoners on strike, namely Ismail Ali, who has been in prison for 90 days, Tariq Qa’dan, in jail for 83 days, Ahmad Zahran, detained for 30 days, Musab Al-Hindi, jailed for 28 days, and Hiba Al-Labadi, a Jordanian national, who has been on hunger strike for 28 days. The Prisoner Club pointed out that a hearing session is scheduled for prisoner Qa’dan on the 23rd of this month to consider the issue of confirming his administrative detention. Another hearing is planned for prisoner Ismail Ali on the 24th of this month in the occupation’s Supreme Court.

According to a statement issued by the Prisoners ‘Affairs Authority, the government body that follows the prisoners’ file, prisoner Hiba Al-Labadi, who turned out to be administratively detained a few days ago, continues to fight, even though she is in very poor health conditions, suffering from tingling and severe heartache, fatigue, dizziness, fainting, and stomach pains.

In a statement, the authority confirmed that Israel continues to detain prisoner Al-Labadi in Al-Jalama detention centre in awful circumstances as she currently sits in a small, dark, non-ventilated cell which is filled with moisture and insects and which has four surveillance cameras. Besides, the prison administration refuses to fulfil any of prisoner Al-Labadi’s personal needs.