[Pnews] Scores of Palestinian prisoners reported to join mass hunger strike on 25th day

[Prisoner News]

  Scores of Palestinian prisoners reported to join mass hunger strike on
  25th day

May 11, 2017 - http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776994
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- As hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel 
marked the 25th day of their mass hunger strike on Thursday, more 
prisoners reportedly joined the strike, while prisoners rights groups 
noted with concern the worsening health conditions of a number of hunger 
strikers.

Sawt al-Asra (Voice of Prisoners) radio quoted anonymous sources on 
Thursday as saying that nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners from across the 
political spectrum had decided to join the hunger strike.

Meanwhile, the Fatah Central committee called on its party members 
currently imprisoned by Israel to join the strike, unless they were 
sick, underage, or women.

Sawt al-Asra estimated that nearly 1,800 prisoners were now 
participating in the strike.

As Israeli authorities have severely restricted hunger-striking 
prisoners’ access to their relatives, lawyers, and each other, estimates 
of the number of hunger strike participants have been hard to 
corroborate. While the media committee of the hunger strike has reported 
that between 1,500 and 1,600 prisoners were forgoing food, Israeli 
authorities have claimed that fewer than 1,000 prisoners were participating.

Hunger-striking prisoners are calling for an end to the denial of family 
visits, the right to pursue higher education, appropriate medical care 
and treatment, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative 
detention -- imprisonment without charge or trial -- among otherdemands 
for basic rights. <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776379>

According to prisoners' rights organization Addameer, 40 percent of the 
male Palestinian population has been detained by Israeli authorities at 
some point in their lives, as rights groups have long accused Israel of 
using routine imprisonment as a tool to erode family and political life 
in the Palestinian territory.

Conditions worsen for hunger strikers in prison

The media committee of the hunger strike reported on Thursday that the 
healths of the hunger strikers were severely deteriorating, as prisoners 
experienced difficulty moving, severe dehydration, stomach aches, 
headaches, irregular heartbeats, and low blood pressure.

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said on Thursday that 
the hunger strikers’ healths had reached a “tragic” level of “extreme 
danger,” as most hunger strikers had lost between 15 and 25 kilograms. 
Citing prisoner testimonies, the committee went on to say that some 
hunger strikers had begun to vomit blood.

Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies spokesman Riyad al-Ashqar said 
that Israel Prison Service (IPS) authorities in the Ktziot detention 
center had refused to transfer dozens of hunger strikers to hospitals, 
instead holding them in prison clinics.
Al-Ashqar said that IPS was pressuring prisoners to end their hunger 
strikes in exchange for receiving medical care.

He added that Ktziot prison guards were also placing food in hunger 
strikers’ cells to break their determination, and had prevented the 
prisoners from drinking cold water despite rising temperatures, forcing 
them to drink hot water instead.
Prisoners rights groups denounced the IPS’ repressive measures seeking 
to break the strike.

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs denounced the use of 
solitary confinement and forcible transfer of hunger-striking prisoners 
between detention facilities in an attempt to exhaust the prisoners into 
ending their strike.

It added that IPS officers had blocked some cells’ windows to deny 
hunger strikers access to sunlight; confiscated clothes and salt, the 
only nutrient consumed by the hunger strikers; and fined hunger strikers 
for a variety of small offenses such as not standing up during roll call.

Hunger strike supporters continue holding solidarity events in 
Palestine, abroad

Meanwhile, supporters of Palestinian hunger strikers continued to 
publicly show solidarity for the prisoner movement, as the National 
Committee for Supporting the Strike called Thursday a “day of anger” 
across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Several Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces during a march in 
support of the prisoners near the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El 
in the Ramallah district of the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoner solidarity network Samidoun 
<http://samidoun.net/2017/05/25-days-on-hunger-strike-fateh-calls-all-imprisoned-members-to-join-strike-as-health-conditions-deteriorate/>reported 
that the Canadian Labor Congress was the latest foreign trade union to 
have issued a resolution calling on its government to pressure Israel 
over the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Samidoun also reported that activists were carrying one short hunger 
strikes in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Paris, France, the 
Belgian capital Brussels, and Chicago in the United States.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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