MIDDLE EAST: Gaza footballer Mahmoud Al-Sarsak marks the 79th day of his hunger strike in an Israeli jail to protest three years of detention without trial on suspicions that he is a combatant

Record ID: 340824

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Gaza footballer Mahmoud Al-Sarsak marks the 79th day of his hunger strike in an Israeli jail to protest three years of detention without trial on suspicions that he is a combatant
  • Date: 7th June 2012
  • Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (RECENT) (REUTERS) AREA WHERE FAMILY OF MAHMOUD AL-SARSAK LIVE CHILDREN SITTING EXTERIOR OF HOUSE OF MAHMOUD AL-SARSAK CLOSE OF POSTER OF PALESTINIAN PRISONER MAHMOUD AL-SARSAK WHO IS ON HUNGER STRIKE FAMILY OF SARSAK SITTING TOGETHER SPORTS SHOES AND TROPHY FOR SARSAK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UMM MAHMOUD SARSAK, SAYING: "We never meet him. We get news
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Gaza Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8X6257GYKOOMFQ38ECNE42C7
  • Story Text: A Palestinian footballer has marked 79 days of hunger strike in an Israeli prison, with no clear end in sight.
    Mahmoud Al-Sarsak left the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2009 to play football in the West Bank, but was arrested by Israeli security and and has spent three years in administrative detention.
    His current term of detentionon August 22 but there is no guarantee that it will not be renewed for a further six months, as it has been before, his family and lawyer said.
    "We never meet him. We get news about him from the lawyers, that's it. They tell us whether he is in good shape or not. They tell us not to worry and that he is still strong. And then we feel more confident about his health," said Sarsak's mother.
    "I am not happy that I am eating and he is not eating and drinking at all. Whenever we have lunch together we remember him, whenever we drink a cup of tea we remember him, when we eat sweets we remember him. He used to like the food, the family gathering, he used to tell jokes," she added.
    The 25-year-old is in an Israeli jail on unofficial charges that he is an "unlawful combatant" linked to the militant group Islamic Jihad, an allegation he denies.
    Sarsak had joined the local football team in his Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip at 14, becoming the youngest footballer to play in the Palestine Liga A at the time.
    The midfielder attracted the attention of a German coach while playing for the Palestine national team in Norway.
    "He was in love with sports, for example when we used to tell him 'let's go to the market' he used to say 'I am not going I want to go to a match or football training'. All his life is in the football fields," his mother said.
    The first step was to play for a team in the West Bank. But Israeli security arrested him on July 22, 2009, at the Erez crossing from the blockaded Gaza enclave, the only route to Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank.
    Mahmoud began his strike on March 15, demanding an end to his administrative detention, a practice whereby prisoners can be held without charge for months or years.
    On Wednesday (June 6), Physicians for Human Rights doctor visited Sarsak in prison.
    "The doctor says that he must be transferred immediately to hospital in order to prevent unnecessary danger to his life. It is not certain - in case his condition deteriorates, the danger is a heart incident which can be sudden and severe - that the [Israeli] Prison Authority will be able to deal with it or evacuate him to hospital in time," Anat Litvin, head of prisoners and detainees department in PHR Israel, told Reuters.
    According to his lawyer, Mohammed Jabarin, Sarsak had lost at least 10 kgs (22 pounds) and recently began having injections and solutions of salt to combat pain, weakness and deteriorating eyesight.
    Jabarin said there were talks with the Israeli prison authorities over Sarsak's hunger strike but there was no official promise by Israel it would not renew his detention.
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