Al-Balboul brothers reject court order to suspend their hunger strike
The Palestinian prisoners Mohamed and Mahmoud al-Balboul who have been on hunger strike for more than two months rejected the Israeli Supreme court’s order to suspend their hunger strike.
Lawyer of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners Affairs Iyed Misek pointed out that the court order will allow Israeli authorities to re-arrest the brothers once their health conditions improve.
The court’s order did not put an end to their administrative detention, he clarified, adding that the Supreme Court was in part responsible for the deteriorating health of the hunger strikers.
Misk stressed the two brothers’ determination to continue their hunger strike until their unconditional release. Brothers Mahmoud and Mohamed al-Balboul began their hunger strikes on July 4 and 7 respectively.
The brothers were detained on June 9 and sentenced to administrative detention shortly before their younger sister Nuran, 16, was released after spending four months in Israeli prison.
The hunger strikers have experienced deteriorating health, as both brothers were rushed to the intensive care unit of two Israeli hospitals within a few days of each other as their health conditions took a turn for the worse.
Israel’s policy of administrative detention, which allows Israel to detain someone without trial or charge, is almost exclusively used against Palestinians and has been widely criticized by rights groups which have accused Israel of using the policy to erode Palestinian political and social life by detaining scores of Palestinians without proof of wrongdoing.
PNN