Ramallah, October 18 (RHC)-- Over 6000 Palestinian prisoners are languishing in Israeli jails. Hundreds of these inmates are held without any charge or trial under what’s known as administrative detention deemed illegal based on international law.  Now, six Palestinian prisoners are refusing food to protest the policy.  Among those six protesters there is Heba al-Labadi, a Palestinian-Jordanian national who has been on a hunger strike for over three weeks. 

Among other detainees protesting their unlawful incarceration and the horrific conditions in Israeli prisons, there’s Ahmed Ghannam, who began his hunger strike in July. Human rights groups say Israel should either prosecute those prisoners or release them.  But Tel Aviv insists that they were arrested on secret reports which are inaccessible to prisoners and their lawyers.

Experts say Israel uses the policy of administrative detention to silence the voices of Palestinians but lacks any concrete evidence that could be presented in an open, military court. Palestinians say administrative detention is a whole other level of injustice. 

Israel’s administrative detention law allows it to imprison Palestinians for renewable periods without trial or charge.  Administrative inmates in Israeli jails say going on hunger strike is one of their few options to make their voice heard and to force Tel Aviv end this illegal policy. 

Several Palestinian prisoners have gone on hunger strike in recent months over Israel’s administrative detention.