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Annual Violations Report
Five Administrative Detainees Go on Hunger Strike and Boycott Military
Courts
Five administrative detainees in Israeli prisons started an open-ended hunger
strike in August 30 th , 2015 15 protesting their detention, demanding their
release and the releases of other detainees. The five detainees were Ghassan
Zawahreh, 34, and Shadi Ma’ali, 39, who were placed in solitary confinement
in Ela prison; Nidal Abu Aker, 48, who was placed in solitary confinement in
Ashkelon prison; as well as Muneer Abu Sharar, 31, and Bader Al-Raza, 27.
In the beginning of July, they, along with 50 other administrative detainees,
announced their complete boycott of the Israeli military courts that issue
administrative detention for being an unjust formality that legitimizes arbitrary
arrests. In retaliation of their hunger strike, the Israeli Prison Service enforced
a group of punishments that included placing them solitary confinement,
banning family visitations, and cutting off cold water. The prison warden then
ordered to close all ventilation shafts in order to cut off air circulation in their
prison cells, as well as confiscate all their possessions. Ma’ali, who spent a
total of three years in administrative detention, told Addameer attorney “we are
ready to die.” He added, “Death seems to be the humane option in comparison
to the arbitrary administrative detention Israel is currently enforcing. Everyone
knows that there is no security risk requiring this form of detention. An army
or intelligence officer decides on people’s fates, as well as the fate of their
families. People are denied of their children, lives, and freedom with one
signature. It is unacceptable and we refuse to be slaves to Shabak (Israeli
intelligence).”
The five detainees were subjected to suffered torture, harsh treatment, and
harassment. Israeli forces raided their houses in the middle of the night,
terrorized and threatened their families.
This wave of strikes is distinctive for the appearance of individual initiatives that
ultimately led to an open-ended hunger strike. The five detainees shared a joint
purpose following their similar suffering of repeatedly-renewed administrative
detention orders without a charge or fair trial. Prisoner Zawahreh spent close
to 10 years in Israeli prisons, including two and half years of administrative
detention while prisoner Abu Aker spent a total of 14 years in prison, 10 of
which were in administrative detention. Their detention disrupted their lives,
forcibly removed them of their families, and left them incapable of planning for
their future as the ghost of administrative detention haunts them for the rest of
their being. The detainees strongly persevered in their hunger strike for almost
30 days. On September 29 th , the strike ended after the prison administration
agreed, partially and individually, to their demands.
15. The Israeli prison service regulations define mass hunger strike as “the hunger strike of two
or more prisoners in the same cell or section who are believed to be in relation to one another
in order to achieve a common goal.”
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