JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian man held by Israel without charges has been on a hunger strike for more than two months and is clinging to life, his supporters said Thursday.
A lawyer for Ghadanfar Abu Atwan, 28, said his client’s condition has deteriorated in recent days and that he wants to be transferred from Israel’s Kaplan Hospital to a Palestinian hospital.
Medical records dated July 7 and reviewed by The Associated Press show that Abu Atwan has gone through several periods where he refused to drink water or fluids with sugar, salt or vitamins.
The records described him as “noticeably weak, almost unable to speak” and unable to move his lower limbs.
The case has drawn renewed attention to “administrative detention,” a controversial Israeli policy in which it holds suspected Palestinian militants without charges for months at a time. The policy has drawn criticism from human rights groups.
Attorney Jawad Boulos said Abu Atwan was arrested in October, released and arrested again, but never charged.
He said Abu Atwan’s administrative detention was recently suspended by Israel’s Supreme Court due to his dire health condition. But the court’s ruling left him “sick and captive in the hospital,” Boulos said.
“His only demand today is that he be released immediately and return to his home free, or that he be transferred to a Palestinian hospital, so that he can complete his treatment there,” Boulos told the AP.
The hospital refused to comment on his condition, citing privacy laws. The Shin Bet security service confirmed the court’s decisions on suspending Abu Atwan’s detention, refusing to provide further details.
Under the administrative detention policy, Israel holds Palestinians without charges on suspicion of undisclosed security offenses. The detention orders are renewable and have generated stiff blowback from groups that allege the practice violates the right to due process.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, an advocacy group that represents the thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, said Abu Atwan began his hunger strike May 5 in prison and was subject to abuse and assault. It alleged that he was then transferred to several prisons, beaten and sprayed with a substance that made it hard to breathe.
On June 21, the organization said, Abu Atwan’s health seriously deteriorated and he required urgent medical attention.
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Bentov reported from Rehovot, Israel.