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Nablus (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)
On Thursday, Israeli authorities released Palestinian Maher Al-Akhras (49), who went on a 103-day hunger strike to reject his administrative detention in an Israeli prison, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
Al-Akhras was transferred after his release to Al-Najah University Hospital in the city of Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Al-Akhras was arrested on July 27 at his home in Silat al-Dhahr in Jenin district, and was placed in Hawara camp near Nablus. He went on a hunger strike from the first day of his arrest, barely an administrative detention order was issued against him for a period of four months. He ended his strike on November 6 after an agreement that he would be released.
Administrative detention is an inheritance of the British Mandate, during which no charges are brought against the detainee, as it is based on “classified information”, and can be renewed several times, so it can last for years.
Al-Akhras was transferred during his detention between several prisons, the last of which went to the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, from 9 September, after his health condition deteriorated due to the hunger strike. . The International Committee of the Red Cross said in October that his condition was “critical.”
The medical director of Al-Najah Hospital, Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Barqawi, said in press statements that the hospital is awaiting “the medical evaluation of his condition by the doctor who supervises him, and will then decide whether to remain in the hospital. or leave it at home. “
Israeli authorities suspect that Al-Akhras is linked to the Islamic Jihad movement, which Israel, the European Union and the United States consider a “terrorist” organization.
His case, who is a farmer and father of six children, has drawn criticism from some NGOs against Israel and protests in the occupied Palestinian territories and among Israeli Arabs.
The Al-Asir club claimed that Al-Akhras “won his freedom with his firmness and his confrontation with the most dangerous policies of the occupation practiced against our people, represented by the policy of systematic administrative detention.”
He noted that there are currently approximately 350 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, including three inmates.
© 2020 AFP
