Palestinian officials urge international organizations to secure release in Israel of hunger striker Abu Hawash

Palestinian officials today urged international organizations to secure the release from Israeli prisons of administrative detainee Hisham Abu Hawash, 40, who has been on hunger strike for 141 days in a row demanding an end to his illegal incarceration.

Speaking on the official Voice of Palestine radio, Justice Minister Mohammad Shalaldeh called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, “to shoulder their legal and moral responsibility by overseeing the implementation of special rules to protect the rights of prisoners from serious violations to which they are subjected, especially the prisoner Hisham Abu Hawash.

” Abu Hawash, he said, “is subjected to inhumane, immoral and illegal practices by the Israeli occupation authorities, which calls for immediate action to save his life by the international and human rights organizations.”

International humanitarian law criminalizes serious violations against prisoners, said the Justice Minister, adding that the occupation authorities implement a policy of administrative detention and punishment without charge and trial, and therefore, based on the political order and the International Criminal Court, these violations are considered a war crime according to article 85 of Protocol I of 1977.

Palestine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreisheh, also told Voice of Palestine that efforts are continuing to pressure Israel to cancel the administrative detention of Abu Hawash in light of the very critical deterioration on his health.

He said that the UN’s Human Rights Council fact-finding committee has been informed of the violations suffered by the prisoners and that the commission intends to visit the West Bank and Gaza in the next two months to meet individuals who were tortured by the Israeli authorities as well as official parties and civil society representative to hear their side of the story.

Source: Palestinian News & Information Agency