GAZA JOURNALISTS STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH HUNGER STRIKE DETAINEES

Gaza City, 24 Rajab 1435/23 May 2014 (MINA) – Gaza journalists have stood Thursday afternoon in solidarity with the administrative detainees who have been on hunger strike since four weeks protesting their illegal detention.

The activity organized by the Ministry of Information in Gaza and attended by dozens of journalists, ALRAY, Palestinian Media Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Emad al-Hadidy,  the General Director of Media Services in the ministry, said that most hunger striking detainees are elderly and suffer from chronic illnesses. “The occupying power shoulders the whole responsibility in case one of the detainees dies,” he added.

Al-Hadidy called on the UN to pressure on the occupying power to stop its crimes against the detainees.

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He appealed to the human rights organizations to act and stop the detainees’ suffering calling for the unity of the Palestinian journalists.

Over 150 Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli concentration camps are still on an open-ended hunger strike for 29 days. They declared the strike to protest the administrative detention and to stop the laws applicable to this type of arrest.

Essa Qaraqie, the Palestinian minister of prisoners’ affairs, said on Sunday that the physical conditions of the hunger striking prisoners “worsen every day.”

Some 120 Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike since April 24 in protest at the Israeli “administrative detention.”

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In a letter posted on Facebook, the inmates have stated that they would not give up their hunger strike campaign despite extreme weakness.

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to imprison Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can, however, be renewed for an indefinite period of time.

Qaraqie also said some of the strikers “have already been transferred to hospitals.” He added that Israeli prisons still neglect the demands of the inmates despite their worsening conditions.(T/Fauziah/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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