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FOA calls for release of all Palestinian administrative detainees

January 7, 2022 at 11:52 am

A campaign calling for an end to the administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – of Palestinians by occupation forces has been launched in London.

Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) launched the #StopAdministrativeDetention campaign calling for the release of the 500 or so Palestinians who are currently held in Israeli jails with no knowledge of why they have been detained.

Yesterday FOA supporters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London to call on Israel to comply with international law and end its unfair use of administrative detention.

Administrative detention is the arrest of Palestinians without charge or trial for an indefinite period on the grounds that they might commit an offence in the future.

READ: Palestinian prisoners enter 40th year in Israel detention

Israel has a long history of using administrative detention to oppress Palestinians. Since March 2002, the number of Palestinians in administrative detainees has not fallen below 100. Like all Palestinian prisoners, administrative detainees face appalling prison conditions: they are regularly subjected to arbitrary beatings, solitary confinement, limited family visits and medical negligence.

Earlier this week Palestinian Hisham Abu Hawash ended his 141-day hunger strike against his administrative detention. Hisham has been unlawfully detained by Israel since October 2020. His release is now set for next month.

FOA’s latest campaign calls for Hisham’s immediate release and freedom for the 500 other administrative detainees suffering unfair treatment and appalling conditions in Israeli prisons.

It is urging people to write to their MP to condemn this oppression of Palestinians.