Israeli physicians urges release of Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR) warned Wednesday that a prominent Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 50 days faces "risk of death" urging for his immediate release.

Two visits during the past week revealed "serious deterioration" in Khader Adnan's condition, a 37-year-old activist with the Islamic Jihad Palestinian militant group, the Israeli human and medical rights organization PHR said in a statement.

"Currently PHR fears further deterioration in his health, possibly leading to his death," the organization said, adding that Adnan was tied up by both hand and feet to his bed, "violating the medical ethical code."

Adnan is on hunger strike protesting his administrative detention, during which time he was held without trail in an Israeli prison for almost a year.

Previously serving administrative detention in 2012 he went on a 66-day hunger strike, sparking an remarkable hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails calling for their freedom.

Adnan ended his hunger strike once Israel promised to release him, but in July 2014 he was recaptured and readmitted into administrative detention, again without charges.

Unlike previous hunger strikes, Adnan is on the so-called "Irish strike model," ingesting only water yet refusing minerals and vitamins, PHR said.

A spokeswoman with the Prison Authority confirmed that Adnan "is under medical supervision" at the Assaf Harofeh Hospital in central Israel. She declined to comment on his medical condition. She added that three further prisoners went on hunger strike since the beginning of June.

According to medical literature, life-threatening complications are expected in an entirely water-based hunger strike beyond 42 days.

Adnan refuses medical examination or any type of medical treatment, PHR said.

PHR also called for an end of the use of administrative detention, which "has become a key Israeli instrument of oppression concerning political dissent among Palestinians," the organization said.

Israel is working to push forward a bill permitting the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Opposing the bill is The Israeli Medical Association, whose chairman condemned force feeding as a form of torture, yet it was endorsed last week by the government. The new legislation has yet to be approved by the Knesset (parliament).

There are about 6,500 Palestinian prisoners, incarcerated in 18 jails and detention centers across Israel, according to the Palestinian Corporation for Prisoners in Israeli jails. Endit