'How many more lives have to be lost': UN experts on Adnan's martyrdom

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 May 2023 08:19
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Still, "Israel" is not held accountable, and its arbitrary administrative detention policy continues.

In this image, Palestinian Martyr Khader Adnan is seen suffering from extremely difficult health conditions in a prison hospital facility on the 80th day of his hunger strike. (Social media)

Two independent UN human rights experts said, on Wednesday, that "Israel" must be held accountable for the martyrdom of Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan.

On May 2, prisoner Khader Adnan was martyred at the age of 44, following an 87-day hunger strike in refusal of his arbitrary arrest, as the occupation kept Martyr Adnan detained in the Ramleh prison clinic.

Adnan remained for 87 days in a small cell in the Ramleh prison clinic, waging a fierce Battle of Empty Stomachs, during which his wife traveled from one governorate to another, from one event to another, from radio to television or any media outlet, seeking any opportunity to highlight her husband's suffering and conveying to the public the developments of his strike.

Adnan went on strike from the very beginning of his arrest on February 5, when Israeli occupation forces raided his home in the Jenin camp.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, both called "Israel’s" mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians “cruel” and “inhumane".

The experts acknowledged that Israeli occupation refused to release Khader Adnan or transfer him to a hospital and continued to detain him in a prison hospital facility, reportedly without providing adequate healthcare-- despite the serious deterioration of his health.

The experts further highlighted that Khader Adnan was detained at least 12 times in the past, spent around eight years in Israeli occupation prisons, mostly in administrative detention, and went on hunger strike five times.

#Israel:UN experts demand accountability for death of #Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan & condemn Israel’s mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians as "cruel" + "inhumane". How many more lives must be lost before an inch of justice can be delivered?https://t.co/5gy0nLTHV1 pic.twitter.com/FpMT8ZK2B3
— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) May 3, 2023

It is worth noting that administrative prisoners are held in Israeli prisons without charges filed against them, and their detention is renewed as a "precautionary measure". They are held with no evidence to incriminate them in any case, nor are any cases brought before their lawyers.

Palestinian administrative prisoners frequently undergo hunger strikes to reject their arbitrary detention and to protest the brutality of "Israel’s" detention practices.

“The death of Khader Adnan is a tragic testament to Israel’s cruel and inhumane detention policy and practices, as well as the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable in the face of callous illegalities perpetrated against Palestinian inmates,” the experts said.

According to the experts, "Israel" presently imprisons 4,900 Palestinians, including over 1,000 administrative detainees who are kept without indictment or trial for an unlimited amount of time.

Despite repeated appeals for "Israel" to stop the practice from international human rights organizations and condemnation from those organizations, the number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons is at its highest level since 2008.

“We cannot separate Israel’s carceral policies from the colonial nature of its occupation, intended to control and subjugate all Palestinians in the territory Israel wants to control,” the UN experts said.

“The systematic practice of administrative detention is tantamount to a war crime of wilfully depriving protected persons of the rights of fair and regular trial.”

They continued to say that it was urgently necessary for the world to hold "Israel" responsible for its illegal actions in the occupied territories and to end the normalization of war crimes.

“How many more lives will have to be lost, before an inch of justice can be delivered in the occupied Palestinian territory?” they concluded.