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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">“Please mother, always pray for me”:
Hassan Safadi still on hunger strike after Israel breaks deal</h1>
<div class="submitted"> <span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2012-07-30T22:22:33+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username" xml:lang=""
about="/users/linah-alsaafin" typeof="sioc:UserAccount"
property="foaf:name">Linah Alsaafin</span> on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 22:22<br>
<small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/linah-alsaafin/please-mother-always-pray-me-hassan-safadi-still-hunger-strike-after-israel">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/linah-alsaafin/please-mother-always-pray-me-hassan-safadi-still-hunger-strike-after-israel</a></small></small><br>
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<p>Back in the old city of Nablus, through the al-Hanbali entrance.
Past the butcher shop that once displayed a cow’s severed head wearing
a pair of sunglasses. Turn right and the walls are suddenly covered
with the Palestine flag, posters of various prisoners, framed
photographs of Hassan Safadi and his martyred brother Farid, and a
wreath of dried flowers.</p>
<p>I’m back inside <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/hassan-safadi">Hassan Safadi</a>’s
home. But despite Israeli promises to release him a month ago, he is
not here. He’s still in Israeli custody and <a
href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=501">just completed the
40th day of a renewed hunger strike</a>.</p>
<p>Today, Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel <a
href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=501">expressed grave
concern</a> for the condition of Safadi and <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/samer-al-barq">Samer al-Barq</a>,
who has been on renewed hunger strike 70 days, and Ayman Sharawna who
has passed 30 days.</p>
<p>Last time I was at Safadi’s home was back in late April when he was
on his 50th day of hunger strike. I remembered his weary mother, her
voice barely raised above a whisper, exhaustion etched into her face.
She had hunger struck in solidarity with her son when her health took a
turn for the worse and ended in her hospitalization for a few days.</p>
<p>After <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinian-who-went-71-days-without-food-restarts-hunger-strike-after-israel">71 days
without food, Hasan finally broke his hunger strike a day after the 14
May agreement</a> signed by the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-prison-service">Israel
Prison Service</a> and the higher committee for hunger strikers. Under
the deal, Safadi was to have been released at the end of June.</p>
<h2>A youth spent in prison without ever being charged</h2>
<p>As I wrote for <a href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/6608">Al
Akhbar</a> back then, Hassan’s youth up until today had been plagued
with arrests.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>Safadi is no
stranger to spending time in Israeli prisons. He was first arrested
when he was just 16 years old, in 1994. From 2007 to 2010, he became
the longest <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/administrative-detention">administrative
detainee</a> in Israeli prison, with his detainment renewed every six
months over and over again.</p>
<p>After his release, he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority
for 48 days and spent the next five months being summoned for
interrogation regularly. Prior to his arrest by Israel in 2007, he had
spent 43 months in prison. In total, Safadi spent 10 years as an
administrative detainee in Israeli prisons, without ever once being
sentenced or charged officially.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><span style="margin-left: -10px;" class="dquo">“</span>Buzzing with
excitement”</h2>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>At 1 am that
day we received a call from Hassan from his bed in the Ramle prison
hospital,” recalled his mother about the day her son ended his first
hunger strike.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>The Ramle
prison slaughterhouse,” muttered Fuad, Hasan’s brother.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>We already
heard the news that the hunger strike had ended, and I was crying and
begging for Hassan to break his strike and to eat something,” she
continued. “He wasn’t sure if the mass hunger strike had ended or not,
and didn’t want to eat when he saw <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-sarsak">Mahmoud Sarsak</a>
and <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/akram-rikhawi">Akram Rikhawi</a>
still refusing food. But in the afternoon, the lawyer Jawad Boulos made
him drink tea. My happiness was indescribable!”</p>
<p>Hassan’s sister Najiyeh ululated long and loud over the phone when
her brother informed them he finally ate something. The celebrations in
Nablus reached the Martyrs’ Square in the heart of the city and lasted
for a long time. Hassan had triumphed over his jailers. According to
the agreement, his administrative detention was not going to be
renewed, and he was slated to be released on 29 June 2012. The higher
committee for the hunger strikers reassured his mother that she will
see him home on that day.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>I prepared
fresh sheets on his bed,” Hasan’s mother said. “I laid out new clothes
for him to wear when he arrived back home. I was so happy, I wanted to
take him to his future fiancé’s house and prepare for the wedding. The
whole house was buzzing with excitement.”</p>
<h2>Israel breaks deal</h2>
<p>One day in the middle of June, Hasan’s mother was sitting alone by
herself in the house listening to the radio. As she changed the
station, she caught the Ramallah Palestinian Authority’s Minister of
Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqe voice as he finished the sentence “…with
the renewal of the prisoner Hassan’s administrative detention for
another six months” before the commercials began.</p>
<p>She started pacing all around the house like a caged animal, feeling
so light-headed. “Issa Qaraqe’didn’t say Hassan Safadi, he just said
Hassan. I kept thinking, not my Hassan, not my son. Could it be though?
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/thaer-halahleh">Thaer
Halahleh</a>’s release on 5 June gave us even more hope and assurance
that Hasan would be released on the 29th. I just kept thinking of
Hassan, Hassan, which Hassan. I almost went out of my mind.”</p>
<p>Later that same day, Fuad walked in the house with a thunderous look
on his face. For his mother, that was all the confirmation she needed
of Hassan’s detention renewed.</p>
<h2><span style="margin-left: -10px;" class="dquo">“</span>I want my
son”</h2>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>It was a
paralyzing shock for me,” their mother said. “I couldn’t think, eat or
move. When I finally got my senses back, I wanted to run outside in the
streets and scream.” Her voice rose. “<em>Bidee ibni!</em> I want my
son! I don’t care for press releases or statements from officials! I
don’t read or write! Do they think this is a game, a kid’s game? What
is Egypt thinking? We took guarantees from the Egyptian mediator that
kept pressuring the hunger strikers to end their strike that our sons
would be released!”</p>
<p>Najiyeh’s four year old son Farid, named after his martyred uncle,
walked in wearing the shirt with his other uncle’s face on it. The
shirt reached below his knees and looked like it hadn’t been taken off
for days. He climbed into Fuad’s lap, his blond curls crushed against
Fuad’s chest and ignored everyone in the room.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>Protests
should be in front of the Egyptian embassy,” Fuad said. Fuad is quick
tempered and his devil-may-care-attitude is reflected in his silent but
always alert posture, the way he barbs his words when talking about PA
officials.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>Fuad, the
window is open,” his mother warns.</p>
<p>He shrugs. He was this close to confronting Fares Abu Hasan with his
bare hands, the lawyer who was supposed to follow up on Hasan’s case.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>The lawyer’s
attitude toward my mother when she asked him for more news was
insulting to say the least. I went to his house and found that he had
run away to Amman, Jordan for a couple of weeks.” He looked at his
mother before adding, “Safer for him too.”</p>
<h2>Safadi relaunches hunger strike</h2>
<p>Hassan immediately re-launched his hunger strike as soon as he found
out about his detention renewal. He was in Hadarim prison at that time,
and was promptly placed in solitary confinement once the Israel Prison
Service found out about his hunger strike. He was moved to the Ramle
Prison Hospital on Tuesday, 10 July where he still remains in isolation.</p>
<p>Tonight, 33 year-old Hassan Safadi has entered his 41st day of his
re-launched hunger strike, and remains in solitary confinement.
According to the latest examination by Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel, he is <a
href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/news/4929-concern-mounts-for-three-remaining-hunger-strikers-.html">suffering
from</a> kidney problems, sight problems, extreme weakness, severe
weight loss, headaches, dizziness, and has difficulty standing.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>We were one
hundred percent sure Hassan was going to be released,” his mother said.
“I still have hope he <em>will</em> be released.”</p>
<h2>Letter to his family</h2>
<p>Below is my translated version of the letter Hassan’s family
received from him when he was on his 22nd day of his re-launched hunger
strike.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>First I want to thank you dear mother for your wonderful letter,
whose every word penetrated my heart and immersed me in happiness,
love and tenderness. I am blessed to have a mother like you. Please
thank everyone who stood in solidarity and prayed for me.</p>
<p>What increased my happiness and contentment was you writing that
you raise your head up proudly because of me…I hope your head will
always be lifted high and your spirits elevated oh loved one. As for
waiting for my release, I remind you mother we are believers.</p>
<p>We are waiting for God’s mercy with patience…as Prophet Muhammad
related God’s words, “I am as my slave thinks…” As you await my
release, think positively and God willing, God will not leave you and
your work and He will not disappoint your expectations.</p>
<p>Thank God I have a mother like you, a patient believer who prays
for me from her heart, and I thank you dear mother for the beautiful
song you wrote that warmed my chest as I read the lyrics..</p>
<p>Congratulations to Nelli’s [his sister] twins…I pray to God they
will be attributed to Muslims and to Islam and for them to receive the
best upbringing, and for their time to be better than our time.</p>
<p>Say hello and salute Abu Jamal and thank him for his efforts and
say hello to Ayah and Amir and tell them I miss them, tell everyone who
asked about me I say hello, and pray for them.</p>
<p>How beautiful the last line in your letter is! “God is with you,
may He protect you and take care of you…I leave you in His safe hands.”</p>
<p>Please mother, always pray for me using those words especially in
the month of Ramadan, happy holidays.</p>
<p>Your son</p>
</blockquote>
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