65th Day of Hunger Strike, Palestinian Prisoner Abu Atwan into Freedom

By Staff- Agencies

The “Israeli” apartheid entity released from prison 28-year-old Ghadanfar Abu Atwan after 65 days of hunger strike, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society has announced.

Abu Atwan, who has been described as "clinging to life", was transferred to a hospital in the occupied West Bank after being released on Thursday.

Arrested ten months ago, Abu Atwan has been held without charge or trial under “Israel's” "administrative detention" mechanism.

The 28-year-old has gone without food, including vitamins and supplements, since 5 May, and on 3 July began refusing to drink water.

Abu Atwan’s administrative detention was recently suspended by “Israel’s” Supreme Court due to his dire health condition, but the court's ruling had left him "sick and captive in the hospital", Boulos said.

Last week, Abu Atwan's family said that he now "looks like a ghost of himself" due to his deteriorating health.

Medical records dated 7 July described him as "noticeably weak, almost unable to speak" and unable to move his lower limbs.

Hunger strikes are often used by Palestinian prisoners as the only tool to protest such extrajudicial detention.

Starting when he was 19, Abu Atwan has served a total of seven non-consecutive years in “Israeli” prison. The first time he was arrested, “Israel's” military court - which has a self-reported 99 percent conviction rate - sentenced him to two years in prison.