[Pnews] Palestinian Hunger-Striker Al-Akhras Finally Allowed Visit from Family

[Prisoner News]

https://imemc.org/article/al-akhras-if-am-going-to-die-i-want-it-to-be-at-home/ 
<https://imemc.org/article/al-akhras-if-am-going-to-die-i-want-it-to-be-at-home/> 



  Hunger-Striker Al-Akhras Finally Allowed Visit from Family

October 26, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The long-term hunger striker Maher al-Akhras, on the 90th day of his 
water-only hunger strike, was finally allowed to receive a visit from 
his wife and daughter on Sunday. It was a tearful reunion, as his young 
daughter embraced her father’s frail, bony body. al-Akhras is nearing 
death, according to medical personnel from the International Committee 
of the Red Cross who have been monitoring his medical condition.

This is the first visit he has been allowed from his family since he was 
taken into custody on July 27th by Israeli authorities. He has also been 
denied access to legal counsel and has never been told what his charges are.

Former political prisoner, researcher and the head of the Studies and 
Documentation Committee of the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and 
Ex-Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, told the IMEMC that the army wanted 
to move al-Akhras to the Ramla Prison Clinic after the soldiers invaded 
his room, but they eventually did not transfer him, and he is still in 
Kaplan Medical Center.

updated from:

*Al-Akhras: “If Am Going To Die, I Want It To Be At Home”*

*Oct 25, 2020 at 07:47*

In a verbal message carried by a lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners’ 
Society (PPS), detainee Maher al-Akhras 
<https://imemc.org/?s=al-Akhras>, who began his hung strike three months 
ago, said he doesn’t want to die at an Israeli clinic, but at home 
surrounded by his loving family.

Al-Akhras told the PPS lawyer, Ahlam Haddad, that while he is still 
being imprisoned, he wishes to see his mother, wife, and children, and 
added that he does not want to die at an Israeli clinic.

“If anybody is willing to help me, then try to secure my transfer to a 
Palestinian hospital in the West Bank,” he said, “If I am going to die, 
I want to be surrounded by my family.”

“Please do not place my corpse in the morgue, do not perform an autopsy, 
whether I die here or in the West Bank,” he stated, “If I die, all I ask 
is for former political prisoners, those who experienced the pain of the 
hunger strike, to carry my corpse during my funeral, and my message to 
my people is to always protect and defend our homeland.”

His statements were made before Israel moved al-Akhras, on Friday, from 
Kaplan Hospital to the infamous Ramla prison clinic, despite his rapidly 
deteriorating health.

On Saturday, his family announced that Maher’s mother, wife, and three 
eldest sons will start a hunger strike after the Israelis denied them 
their right to visit Maher Al Akhras when he was in his room at Kaplan 
hospital.

The soldiers, stationed at the door of his room, refused to allow his 
family to visit with him, and ignored the cries and pleas of his little 
daughter. The family was literally standing at the door leading to his room.

The father of six was abducted by the soldiers from his home in Jenin, 
in northern West Bank, and has since been held under the arbitrary 
Administrative Detention orders, without charges or trial.

He began the open-ended hunger strike in July demanding to be released 
and declared that his strike would continue until freedom or death.

It is worth mentioning that al-Akhras has been abducted and imprisoned 
by Israel numerous times, including when he was taken prisoner on July 
27th, 2020, and was instantly slapped with a four-month Administrative 
Detention order, without charges or trial.

Before his current imprisonment, al-Akhras was spent for over four years 
in prisons, including many months under the arbitrary Administrative 
Detention orders.


-- 
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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