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<h1>Hunger Strikers Continue their Battle of Empty Stomachs Despite
Daily Humiliation and Threats of Force-Feeding</h1>
<span class="text">
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><i><span dir="LTR">24
June 2014, Occupied Ramallah</span></i><span dir="LTR"> – <br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=703">http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=703</a></small></small></b><br>
<br>
One hundred Palestinian administrative detainees continue
their 62<sup>nd</sup> day on hunger strike in protest of the
policy of administrative detention, which has denied them
their right to know their charges or stand trial. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">Solidarity
strikers stopped their strikes due to their deteriorating
health conditions and the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS)
refusal to negotiate with the hunger strikers. Addameer
Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association is deeply
concerned about the deteriorating health conditions of the
hunger strikers, especially in light of the degrading and
inhumane treatment they are subjected to in Israeli prisons
and hospitals. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b><span dir="LTR">“Difficult
and Humiliating” Daily Suffering</span></b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">Signed
affidavits from several detainees has confirmed the continued
policy of shackling the hunger strikers in hospital 24 hours a
day with their legs tied to the bed continuously and one hand
shackled to the bed for 12 hours (from 7PM to 7AM) every
night. Prisoners have also described the horrific and
degrading conditions they are subjected to in order to use the
restroom or shower. The intentionally humiliating process has
been described by a hunger striker in Barzilai Medical Center:
</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><i><span dir="LTR">“When
one of us needs to use the bathroom, he is taken to the
bathroom (a few meters away from the bed) with his hands and
legs shackled. When they reach the bathroom door, the guards
unshackle his hands and keep the bathroom door open…If a
detainee needs to use the bathroom while another is using
it, he has to wait for the whole process to end… The process
of showering is very complicated and humiliating. The
detainee’s bed shackles are removed and then his hands and
legs are shackled until he reaches the bathroom. The hand
shackles are removed so he can take off his shirt and then
they are shackled again. Then his leg shackles are removed
so he can take off his pants and undergarments while his
hands remain shackled… The door is kept open while the
detainee showers, and there is no shower curtain. The guard
allows the detainee to choose if he prefers his hands or
legs to be shackled during the shower, but in both
circumstances, the bathing process is very difficult and
humiliating.”</span></i></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The
hunger strikers have also complained they are under video
surveillance 24 hours a day, as well as the lack of privacy
and the continuous threats and harassment the IPS subjects
them to. Their degrading treatment violates basic principles
of international human rights and standards, and Addameer
maintains that the detainees should be released immediately
without condition, or held in humane conditions as stipulated
by international law throughout the duration of their hunger
strike. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b><span dir="LTR">Health
Conditions</span></b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The
visited detainees have all lost a significant amount of
weight, low blood pressure, low pulse, and kidney problems,
which doctors have warned could possibly be permanent.
Detainees are also experiencing extreme dizziness, causing
them to lose consciousness even in the middle of conversations
or </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">medical
examinations.</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">One
detainee who suffers from several pre-existing health
conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, have
intensified since the start of his hunger strike. Now he faces
internal tissue damage, as well as numbness in his legs,
severe shortage of breath and vitamin deficiencty. His life is
in critical danger if he continues his hunger strike.</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The
detainees have been approached by the prison hospital staff to
determine their wishes in case they lose consciousness. They
have maintained that the doctors should act professionally and
according to medical ethics standards.</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The
drastically deteriorating health conditions of the detainees
coincides with the proposed force feeding law currently being
brought before the Knesset that will allow for the
force-feeding of Palestinian hunger strikers. If this bill,
which will be voted on next week, is to pass, it will sanction
Israeli torture of Palestinian hunger strikers in a systematic
and widespread way. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><b><span dir="LTR">Determination
to Escalate the Strike</span></b></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The
administrative detainees, steadfast in their position to end
the policy of administrative detention, have promised to
escalate their strike if their treatment continues or worsens.
This promise comes in the midst of the current arrest
campaigns since the disappearance of three illegal settlers,
in which 147 new administrative detention orders have been
issued, raising the total number of people currently being
held in administrative detention to 343, the highest number
held since August 2009. </span></div>
<div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">From
their hospital beds the hunger strikers remain steadfast in
their cause: <b><i>“Administrative detention contradicts
democratic and humane values, especially in the
arbitrary way that Israel uses it, as there is no
justification. There should be strong resistance by
everyone in prison or outside against this policy
because it greatly harms people, their dignity, family
and children.”</i></b></span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div>
</div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">For more information about
administrative detention and Addameer’s Campaign to Stop
Administrative Detention see: <a
href="http://stopadcampaign.com/">http://stopadcampaign.com </a></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">Read
Addameer’s summary on administrative detention:</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR"><a
href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=667">Administrative
Detention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory</a></span></div>
<div dir="RTL" align="right"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: center;"><b><u><span dir="LTR">ACT
NOW!</span></u></b></div>
<div dir="RTL" align="right"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">*Write to
the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and
demand that the hunger strikers be released immediately:</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" align="right"> </div>
<ul type="disc">
<li>Brigadier General Danny Efroni<br>
Military Judge Advocate General<br>
6 David Elazar Street<br>
Harkiya, Tel Aviv<br>
Israel<br>
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526<br>
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:arbel@mail.idf.il">arbel@mail.idf.il</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:avimn@idf.gov.il">avimn@idf.gov.il</a></li>
<li>Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon<br>
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command<br>
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam<br>
Fax: +972 2 530 5741</li>
<li>Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak<br>
Ministry of Defense<br>
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya<br>
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel<br>
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757</li>
<li>Col. Eli Bar On<br>
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5<br>
Beth El 90631<br>
Fax: +972 2 9977326</li>
</ul>
</span>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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