Palestinian prisoner launches hunger strike as Israel refuses to release him

Palestinian prisoner Mohamed Abul Asal launched an open-ended hunger strike yesterday in protest against his continued detention in Israeli occupation prisons. unlawful imprisonment.

Abul Asal, a resident from Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho, took the action after Israeli military forces decided to place him under administrative detention for three months on the day he was due to be released having served a ten-month term.

Administrative detention, a procedure employed by the Israeli occupation to jail indefinitely without trial and without charges and used routinely against Palestinians, has been condemned by the UN and is in direct violation of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Asal was kidnaped last year after Israeli occupation forces raided his home. He had previously been detained on numerous occasions.

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Thousands of men, as well as women and children, are held indefinitely and under horrendous conditions in detention centres across the occupied territories without charge, the possibility to appeal or knowing why they are being detained.

Last month, a report prepared by rights groups revealed that Israel issued 98 administrative detention orders, including 33 new and 65 renewed orders, in July alone.

The rights groups stated that the number of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails reached 4,500 in July, including 41 women, 160 children and 360 under administrative detention.