ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/HUNGER STRIKER Palestinian detainee ends 65-day hunger strike after Israeli Court suspends his arrest

Record ID: 143381

  • Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/HUNGER STRIKER Palestinian detainee ends 65-day hunger strike after Israeli Court suspends his arrest
  • Date: 19th August 2015
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 19, 2015) (REUTERS) ISRAELI FLAGS WAVING OUTSIDE ISRAELI SUPREME COURT IN JERUSALEM EXTERIORS OF COURT MEDIA CREWS INSIDE COURT JUDGES ARRIVING AT HEARING AHMED TIBI, A PROMINENT ARAB LEGISLATOR, LISTENING TO HEARING AT COURT TIBI TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROMINENT ARAB LEGISLATOR, AHMED TIBI, SAYING: "Irreversible damage was caused to the brain of Mohammed Allan, that's why I demanded from the court to release him immediately." PALESTINIAN HANGER STRIKER, MOHAMMAD ALLAN'S LAWYER, SAWSAN ZAHAR, TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOHAMMAD ALLAN'S LAWYER, SAWSAN ZAHAR, SAYING: "This should have been done already two days ago when were here in the first hearings in front of the supreme court, and asked for his immediate release because first of all he didn't impose any security threat because of his medical situation. And second of all in order to enable him to get the treatment and save his life and prevent the brain damage that now we are looking at."
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6JRD0PNTKPKR7IFCFTXMIRSD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Palestinian detainee Mohammed Allan ended his 65-day hunger strike against his detention without trial on Wednesday (August 19) after the Israeli Supreme Court suspended his arrest warrant, his lawyer said.
    Allan has sustained brain damage as a result of his hunger strike and is hospitalized in Israel in critical condition. The court said that in his current condition he poses no threat and therefore suspended his arrest warrant.
    "Irreversible damage was caused to the brain of Mohammed Allan, that's why I demanded from the court to release him immediately," Prominent Arab legislator, Ahmed Tibi said during the court hearing earlier today.
    "This should have been done already two days ago when were here in the first hearings in front of the supreme court, and asked for his immediate release because first of all he didn't impose any security threat because of his medical situation. And second of all in order to enable him to get the treatment and save his life and prevent the brain damage that now we are looking at," Mohammad Allan's Lawyer, Sawsan Zahar, said outside court.
    The 31-year-old Islamic Jihad activist's case was being monitored closely by opposing sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which had looked likely to boil over into new violence if Allan were to have died as result of his strike.
    "In that case, I am talking about certain dysfunction of one of the glands in the brain. And we hope that we would be able to improve the function again by restoring the substances that caused this damage that we know," Barzilai Hospital Chief, Chezi Levi, explained hours before the court ruling.
    The Israeli government saw his hunger strike as a powerful challenge against "administrative detention", a practice that has drawn criticism from Palestinians and human rights groups but which Israel calls necessary for its national security.
    It fears his release would only encourage some 370 other Palestinian detainees held without charge to refuse food.
    The court said Allan was to stay at the Israeli hospital where he was being treated.
    Outside the hospital, relatives of Allan celebrated the court's decision.
    Before Wednesday's court session got under way, Allan's lawyers said that in return for an end to the strike, Israel had pledged not to renew his six-month detention period, meaning he would go free on Nov. 3.
    The hospital said Allan's condition had deteriorated since he was brought out of sedation on Tuesday (August 18). His attorneys said he did not respond to the proposal.
    In court, a government lawyer said Israel was prepared to free Allan immediately if a scan carried out while court was in session showed that he had suffered irreversible brain damage and subsequently no longer posed a security threat.
    But the scan results were not conclusive. Levi told reporters it showed some brain damage and it was not yet clear whether it was "completely reversible". He said it was possible Allan would recover.
    On Tuesday, Allan instructed medical staff to halt intravenous treatment, but then agreed vitamins could be administered in the run-up to the court hearing.
    Allan's case was originally seen as a possible test of Israel's new force-feeding law, which the country's medical association has condemned as a violation of ethics and international conventions. But doctors have said that option is no longer viable due to his grave condition.
    Last week supporters of Allan clashed with Israeli right-wingers near the hospital. Israel has long been concerned that hunger strikes by Palestinians in its jails could end in deaths and trigger waves of protests in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register