Israel releases Islamic Jihad militant famous for hunger strikes

Adnan, 37, allegedly a senior member of the Iran-affiliated Islamic Jihad terror group in the West Bank, drew attention to his incarceration by going on a 56-day hunger strike that supporters said left him near death.

Israel has released a Palestinian prisoner who recently ended a 55-day hunger strike. He was then hospitalized in a critical condition, having ingested nothing but water for 56 days.

His lawyer Jawad Boulos told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Adnan would be released and that Israel had also pledged to never detain him again under the guidelines of administrative detention, which can imprison Palestinians indefinitely for renewable six-month intervals.

Adnan has spent six years in Israeli jails under administrative detention.

During a previous period of incarceration without trial, in 2012, Adnan carried out a hunger strike that lasted 66 days.

His family had also been denied visitation rights for “security reasons”.

The Palestinian government had warned that it held Israel responsible for Adnan’s fate, and both sides had feared that, if he had died, it could have fueled further violence in the region.

Israel has sought to prevent hunger strikes by introducing legislation for prisoners to be force fed, but the measure has hit obstacles, such as condemnation by the national doctors’ union, which says it contravenes ethical commitments.

Islamic Jihad, the group to which Adnan belongs, opposes any peace deals between the Palestinians and Israel, and speaks out in favor of destroying the Jewish state.

An estimated 426 Palestinians in Israeli lock-up are now being held as administrative detainees, according to the Ramallah-based Addameer Prisoner Support Network.