An Israeli court rejected today a petition submitted by the attorney of Palestinian detainee Khalil Awawdeh demanding his client’s immediate release after 86 days in protest of his detention without charge or trial, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
PPS said in a statement that the court’s ruling was taken despite the deteriorated health condition of Awawdeh after nearly three months of fasting.
On Tuesday, Awawdeh was moved to the infamous Ramla Prison Clinic, although the Supreme Israeli Court had ordered his immediate transfer to hospital due to his critical health condition.
Awawdeh, 40, from the town of Idna in the southern West Bank Hebron district, has been on hunger strike in protest of his prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial.
He is reported to be suffering from headaches, fatigue, blurred vision, pain in the joints, irregular heartbeats, frequent vomiting and significant loss of weight.
Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.
Amnesty International, has described Israel’s administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)