Palestinian hunger striker to appeal to Israel’s high court

International

The lawyer for a Palestinian prisoner said Tuesday that her client will appeal his case to Israel’s Supreme Court as he continues what his family says is a 165-day hunger strike against his detention.

Also Tuesday, an Israeli military court extended the sentence for a second Palestinian prisoner by six days.

The release of both men — hunger striker Khalil Awawdeh and Bassam al-Saadi, a West Bank Islamic Jihad leader — was among the demands of the militant group for a cease-fire to last week’s intense fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Khalil Awawdeh is protesting being held without charge or trial under what Israel refers to as administrative detention. Ahlam Haddad, Awawdeh’s lawyer, said her client’s health is deteriorating and that they asked that he be released. An Israeli military court on Monday rejected an appeal.

“Justice was not done,” Haddad said. “We turn to... the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, in order maybe to get the relief requested, which is his release from administrative detention.”

Awawdeh, a 40-year-old father of four, is one of several Palestinian prisoners who have gone on prolonged hunger strikes over the years to protest administrative detention. Israel says the policy helps keep dangerous militants off the streets and allows the government to hold suspects without divulging sensitive intelligence. Critics say the policy denies prisoners due process.

Israel says Awawdeh is a militant, an allegation he has denied through his lawyer.

The Islamic Jihad militant group demanded his release as part of an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ending three days of heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip earlier this month but did not identify him as its member. Israel arrested al-Saadi in the days leading up to the Gaza flare-up.

Haddad said her client has not eaten during the strike, except for a 10-day period in which he received vitamin injections, according to his family. Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service has not commented on his case.

Israel is currently holding some 4,400 Palestinian prisoners, including militants who have carried out deadly attacks, as well as people arrested at protests or for throwing stones. Around 670 Palestinians are currently being held in administrative detention, a number that jumped in March as Israel began near-nightly arrest raids in the occupied West Bank following a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis.

Related listings

  • Zimbabwe students scoop international awards for moot court

    Zimbabwe students scoop international awards for moot court

    International 07/14/2022

    A history-making team of Zimbabwean high school students that became world and European moot court competition champions has been widely praised in a country where the education system is beset by poor funding, lack of materials and teachers’ s...

  • Pakistani court orders probe into ex-minister’s arrest

    Pakistani court orders probe into ex-minister’s arrest

    International 05/23/2022

    A court in Pakistan’s capital has ordered an investigation into the controversial arrest of a former human rights minister over a decades old land dispute. Chief Justice Ather Minallah of the Islamabad High Court late Saturday ordered the probe...

  • Court rules Catholic school wrongfully fired gay substitute

    Court rules Catholic school wrongfully fired gay substitute

    International 09/06/2021

    A gay substitute teacher was wrongfully fired by a Roman Catholic school in North Carolina after he announced in 2014 on social media that he was going to marry his longtime partner, a federal judge has ruled.   U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn r...

Business News

New York Adoption Lawyers Rosin Steinhagen Mendel is a law firm dedicated to serving our clients in New York City. >> read
Chicago Work Accident Lawyers at Krol, Bongiorno & Given have been a leader in the field of workers' compensation law. >> read