Israeli Authorities Rearrest Hunger Striker Muhammad Allan


Israeli Authorities Rearrest Hunger Striker Muhammad Allan

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israeli authorities on Wednesday rearrested former Palestinian hunger striker Muhammad Allan after he was discharged from an Israeli hospital, the head of the Palestinian Prisoner's Society told Ma'an news agency.

Qadura Fares said that Israeli authorities had reinstated Allan's administrative detention, internment without trial or charge, against which the prisoner undertook a 66-day hunger strike to protest.

Israel's top court previously suspended the sentence in August, causing Allan to end the hunger strike that brought him close to death, the Ma'an News Agency reports.

Rights group Amnesty International warned at the time that Israel's suspension of his administrative detention was based on his medical condition alone and "took no account of the legality of his detention," raising fears that Allan could be re-sentenced if his health improved.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed the arrest, saying in a statement: "Muhammed Allan, whose condition has improved, was arrested this morning by police at the hospital in Ashkelon."

He was reportedly arrested as he was leaving Barzilai Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Qadura Fares said that he had been moved to Ramla prison hospital.

He said that the Israeli authorities intended for Allan to see out the 6-month administrative detention order he was sentenced to in May, which will last until Nov. 4; However, he added that "It doesn't mean he will be released then."

He said that during the Supreme Court's hearing in August, the prosecutor had referred to Allan as "very dangerous," and suggested that they would like to have him sentenced to administrative detention three more times, totaling one and a half years.

An Israeli Prison Service spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Allan's hunger strike sparked new calls for Israel to curb its use of administrative detention.

Allan's administrative detention was initially ordered by Israeli officials who claimed that he constituted a threat to security and was an activist in the Islamic Jihad group, according to prisoners' rights group Addameer.

Following the decision, Allan reportedly told his attorney: "Administrative detention returns us to slavery, and therefore I refuse to be a slave to anyone."

"The truth is that I currently prefer hunger as long as freedom is the goal in the absence of law in Israeli courts. So, I found myself forced to fight this battle," he said at the time.

Administrative detention has been strongly criticized by the international community as well as rights activists.

They say that international law allows for such detention only under extreme circumstances, but that Israel uses it as a punitive measure on a routine basis to circumvent the justice system or as a crutch to avoid trial.

Activists have called on Israeli authorities to charge or release those held under administrative detention.

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