High-profile Palestinian prisoner re-arrested after release
Xinhua, September 16, 2015 Adjust font size:
A high-profile Palestinian detainee was arrested again shortly after his release from a hospital on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Service confirmed to Xinhua.
Mohammed Allan, who was released on Wednesday morning from the Barzilay hospital in southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, was re-arrested shortly under a military order and transferred to a medical facility of the Israeli Prison Service, a Prison Service's spokesperson said.
The 31-year-old detainee from Einbus, in the West Bank near Nablus, has been held in administrative detention since November 2014, which means a prolonged incarceration without trial amid security concerns.
He embarked on a 64-day hunger strike in June protesting his imprisonment, and nearly died in August when his condition deteriorated, which has roused tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. The Israeli authorities had to reassess the terms of his incarceration in order to prevent a security escalation.
In August, Israeli supreme court ordered to freeze his administrative detention amid his deteriorating health. Allan ended his hunger strike following the court's ruling.
The supreme court also said his detention will be discussed when his condition improves, but no such discussions have taken place yet.
The Adalah legal center for Palestinians' rights, which filed a petition to free Allan recently, said they will appeal again against his detention.
In August protests and clashes between Palestinians and Jews broke out outside the Allan's hospital. The Israeli military has even deployed Iron Dome anti-missile batteries fearing the Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction, would launch rockets toward southern Israel in case Allan dies.
Israel has recently passed a law allowing force-feeding of a hunger-striking prisoner, in an attempt to prevent a security escalation in case the prisoner dies. However, doctors have made clear that they will not follow such regulations due to ethical reasons.
More than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently jailed in Israel over security charges, who are revered by many Palestinians as freedom fighters for the national ambitions of the Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war. Endit