Israel Suspends Detention of Palestinian Hunger Striker

The Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the detention of a critically ill Palestinian inmate whose two-month hunger strike has placed a harsh spotlight on Israel’s legal system.

Allan woke up from his 5-day coma on Tuesday morning, which he slipped into within the 59th day of his hunger-strike. The U.S. has admitted to force-feeding detainees at its Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Britain force-fed some Irish Republican Army prisoners on hunger strikes.

Israel plans to build its separation barrier through the 170-hectare Cremisan Valley, which hosts a Roman Catholic monastery, on a route that residents say would cut off their community.

Allaan, an alleged member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, is under administrative detention – or imprisonment without trial. His shackles were removed and his family was allowed to visit him at the hospital where he was recovering.

“If Allaan’s health does not improve, then his administrative detention will be canceled permanently”, Supreme Court spokesperson Ayelet Filo said. He had regained consciousness Monday, and he was said to have suffered some brain damage as a result of the fast.

“Now he’s awake. He’s very weak”, Dr Chezy Levy, the director of Barzilai hospital, told journalists. “He started to speak with those next to him”.

Allan is still unconscious, but in a stable condition after being given intravenous fluids and salts, while he is breathing with the aid of an artificial respirator. And two, Israeli security officials have been anxious that if he died, Palestinian protests would escalate, and that could mean more prisoners on hunger strike.

Meanwhile, Allan’s lawyer said his client remains unconscious.

NF: You have to say it is a little bit too late if the Israeli Supreme Court decides to free somebody or suspend their sentence when they are suffering brain injuries. Israel need not [keep] these prisoners for so long without charges, and it’s about time to begin releasing some of these prisoners, and create some kind of good will with the Palestinians.

“The High Court gave in to blackmail by the terrorist Mohammed Allan instead of applying the law on forced feeding”, Culture Minister Miri Regev tweeted.

The prisoner began his hunger strike on 16 June after his detention order was renewed for another six months.

As Allan’s condition had deteriorated in recent weeks, threats from Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip to end the fragile truce that has largely held since fighting in the coastal enclave a year ago prompted Israel’s military to deploy several Iron Dome missile defense batteries in southern Israel. “This is the offer that I expected to receive, but I can’t predict, given his condition, whether he will accept it or not”.

The court-ordered release Wednesday of Palestinian detainee Mohammed Allaan from prison following a 65-day hunger strike illustrates the flaws inherent in the tool known as “administrative detention” and the limits of power.