Rights groups call for international probe into Khader Adnan’s death

Palestinian rights groups yesterday called for the formation of an international probe into the death of Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan inside Israeli jails.

Lawyer Yasser Al-Dirawi, from the Himayeh Society for Human Rights, said: “Khader Adnan was intentionally murdered by the Israeli occupation.”

“The Israeli occupation and its leaders must be held accountable for this crime.”

He called for global powers to put pressure on the occupation to stop its use of administrative detention – where Palestinians are held without charge or trial for renewal periods of up to six months, and to force it to treat Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions.

Lawyer Salah Abdul Ati, head of the International Commission for the Defence of the Prisoners, called on the Red Cross to carry out its role and push the Israeli occupation to release Adnan’s body as soon as possible.

He also called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to “take a diplomatic measure and move the issue to the International Criminal Court in order to commission the opening of an international investigation into Adnan’s murder.”

He described what happened to Adnan as a “full-fledged crime”, pointing out that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) had refused to move him to hospital when his health deteriorated.

On Tuesday morning, Israeli occupation announced the death of Adnan after 86 days of hunger strike in Israeli prisons in protest against his administrative detention.

READ: Palestinians hold strike following death in prison of hunger striking prisoner Adnan Khader