Fouad Assi ends hunger strike after 54 days in agreement; Mafarjah, other strikers continue battle of empty stomachs

Fouad Assi ends hunger strike after 54 days in agreement; Mafarjah, other strikers continue battle of empty stomachs

by samidoun

UPDATE: Fouad Assi has suspended his hunger strike on Thursday, 26 May, after concluding an agreement with Israeli occupation forces. His detention will be extended for four months and then ended; it will not be renewed and he will be permitted family visits. Adib Mafarjah is continuing his hunger strike; he will have a court date on 1 June.

Adib Mafarjah  from Beit Liqya near Ramallah, remain on hunger strike for the 53rd day, held shacked to his bed in Barzilai hospital. He is imprisoned by the Israeli military without charge or trial under administrative detention and has been on hunger strike since 3 April in protest of his imprisonment and demanding an end to administrative detention.

Ayat Mafarjah, Adib's wife, told Asra Media Center that the Israeli occupation authorities prohibited Assi's wife from visiting him in the hospital, and said that Adib's health was facing a severe decline with difficulty speaking and moving and great weakness. Mafarjah has been imprisoned since 10 December 2014 and his detention renewed repeatedly without charge or trial.

He launched his hunger strike with fellow administrative detainee Fouad Assi, also from Beit Liqya. Assi ended his strike mid-day on Thursday, 26 May.

Mafarjah and Assi are not the only hunger strikers - severely injured prisoner Mansour Moqtada has been maintaining a liquid-only diet in protest of his medical mistreatment.

Montasser Eid, also held in administrative detention without charge or trial since 20 October 2015, launched a hunger strike on 18 May in protest of the renewal of his imprisonment without charge or trial.

Emad Abu Rezeq has also been engaged in a hunger strike for 12 days protesting his imprisonment and interrogation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will protest in New York City on Friday, 27 May at 4 PM outside the offices of G4S, the corporation that provides security systems and control rooms to Israeli prisons, at 19 W. 44th St. in Manhattan, demanding freedom for the hunger strikers.