203 Days on Hunger Strike in "Israeli" Jails, Issawi in Critical Condition

Local Editor

After 203 days spent on hunger strike, Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi is in "critical condition".Meanwhile, activists feared that "Issawi might not survive his protest against "Israel's" abusive prison system."

Issawi is one of thousands of Palestinian prisoners who have gone on hunger strikes in the past year to denounce "Israel's" policy of administrative detention and poor life conditions in prisons.
The 33-year old has been refusing food since July 2012, making it one of the longest hunger strikes in the world.
Issawi stopped drinking water and taking vitamins earlier this month, and is refusing medical care. His weight dropped to less than 47 kilograms and he is confined to a wheelchair, suffering from loss of vision, fainting and vomiting blood.
"His heart could stop at any moment," said Daleen Elshaer, a coordinator for the Free Samer Issawi Campaign.

Elshaer further warned that Issawi's lawyer and human rights activists were denied accessed to Issawi until Saturday during his most recent hospitalization outside of the infamous Ramlah prison.
Issawi was first arrested in 2002 and sentenced to thirty years in prison over weapons possession and forming a military group. He was released in an October 2011 prisoner swap agreement between the Zionist entity and in which 1,027 mostly-Palestinians were freed in exchange for an "Israeli" soldier captured by the Palestinian resistance in 2006.
He was rearrested on 7 July 2012 and accused of violating the terms of his release by leaving al-Quds. "Israeli" prosecutors are seeking to cancel his amnesty and detain him for 20 years, the remainder of his previous sentence, despite there being no other charges against him.
Another Palestinian hunger striker, Jaafar Ezzedine, recently threatened to follow in Issawi's footsteps and refuse water unless "Israel" meets his demands, according to the Palestine News Network.

According to prisoners' rights group Addameer, 4,743 Palestinians were held in "Israeli" prisons as of January, including 178 in administrative detention.
While the campaign to free Issawi has tried to attract broader international attention, Elshaer said they are too often faced with a wall of silence.
"Samer is non-violently resisting a violent occupation, but nobody is willing to talk about him because he is Palestinian," she said. "Would it take his death for people to cover his story?"
Elshaer added that Issawi's family has been repeatedly harassed by Israeli forces. Water access was cut to his sister's house, and his brother's home was reportedly demolished by the "Israeli" army in early January.
But while Issawi's health is a big cause for concern for his supporters, they keep faith in him and his cause.
"God is protecting him because he is innocent," Elshaer asserted.

Meanwhile, Freed detainee Akram Rekhawi stated his 100 day hunger strike was the hardest stage of his nine-year prison sentence.

"I saw death many times a day and it was very painful and "Israeli" doctors treated me very badly," Rekhawi, 39 said.

Rekhawi, who was released on Thursday, said "Israeli" prison doctors deliberately withheld treatment until prisoners were beyond help."Yes, they're offering us medical treatment, but only after they make sure the disease has spread all through our bodies and that there is no hope in treating us."

A father of eight, Rekhawi suffers from diabetes, asthma and osteoporosis and was held in Ramle prison clinic since his detention in 2004.

Rekhawi spent six years in a cell with Ashraf Abu Threa, who was martyred in January two months after his release from "Israeli" jail. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said "Israeli" authorities were responsible for Abu Threa's death after neglecting his serious health conditions during his detention.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org