JERUSALEM (AP) — A lawyer for a Palestinian prisoner said Tuesday that his consumer will appeal his case to Israel’s Supreme Court as he continues what his circle of relatives calls a 165-day hunger strike in opposition to his detention.
Also on Tuesday, an Israeli army court extended the sentence of a Palestinian prisoner for six days.
The release of the two men, striker Khalil Awawdeh and Bassam al-Saadi, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, are part of the militant group’s demands for a ceasefire after last week’s intense fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Khalil Awawdeh protests against his detention without fee or trial under what Israel calls administrative detention. Ahlam Haddad, Awawdeh’s lawyer, said his client’s physical condition was deteriorating and that they had called for his release. An Israeli army court on Monday rejected an appeal.
“Justice has not been done,” Haddad said. We head to. . . the Supreme Court of Jerusalem, to discharge the requested reparation, which is his release from administrative detention.
Awawdeh, 40, a father of four, is one of many Palestinian prisoners who have moved for long years out of starvation to protest against administrative detention. Israel says the policy is helping to keep harmful activists off the streets and allows the government to detain suspects without revealing sensitive information. Critics say the policy denies prisoners due process.
Israel claims Awawdeh is an activist, an allegation his lawyer has denied.
The Islamic Jihad militant organization demanded his release as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended three days of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, but identified him as its member. Israel arrested al-Saadi in the days leading up to the attack. Gaza eruption.
Haddad said his consumer did not swallow the strike, unless over a 10-day period he won vitamin injections, according to his family. Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service had no comment on his case.
Israel has recently held some 4,400 Palestinian prisoners, adding militants who have carried out fatal attacks, as well as those who arrested demonstrations or for throwing stones. Approximately 670 Palestinians are being held lately in administrative detention, a number that jumped in March when Israel began near-night arrest raids in the occupied West Bank following a series of fatal attacks on Israelis.
Israel says it guarantees due process and largely imprisons those who threaten its safety, a small number are detained for petty crimes.
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