International Women’s Day sees Hana Shalabi on 22nd Day of Hunger Strike

Press Release.

International Women’s Day sees Hana Shalabi on  22^nd  Day of Hunger Strike in Protest of Administrative Detention Sentence

7^th March 2012

As of the 8^th March 2012, Hana Shalabi, a 32 year old Palestinian from the city of Jenin, will be entering into her 21^st day of hunger strike in protest to the  practice of administrative detention at the hands of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS).

Ms Shalabi, was captured from her home near the West Bank city of Jenin on the 16^th February 2012 and was initially taken to Salem Detention Centre, then transferred to Hasharon Prison following interrogation. She has since been placed under administrative detention, a practice used by the IPS in order to detain Palestinian citizens without trial or charge, for 6 months with indefinite renewal.

On the 4^th of March 2012 Hana Shalabi’s sentence was reduced from 6 months to four months, however she has refused to terminate her strike, stating that she would continue in order to achieve her demands to end administrative detention.

Hana is currently extremely weak, according to Addameer-affiliated lawyer Muna Naddaf, and is refusing further medical treatment from IPS doctors. She has not ingested any food or minerals for the 21 days of her hunger strike, and despite pressure from the IPS is committed to continuing. She has also been subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of IPS guards, had a strip search performed on her by a male guard, and has been prevented from seeing family members.

Other political prisoners have also started hunger strikes both in support of Hana Shalabi, and in protest to their own arrests under military detention.

Administrative detention has been practiced by Israel since occupation in 1967. It is ordered by a military commander, and approved in order to protect the security of Israel.  

Under International Law, administrative detention can only be issued under extreme circumstances, namely a ‘public emergency that threatens the life of the nation’, as agreed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Israeli government regularly maintains that it has been under a state of emergency since 1948, thereby ‘legitimising’ its use of administrative detention. There are currently around 310 prisoners in Israel being held without charge in detention. 6 women are being held, however it is not just the direct effects of being held which effects women in Palestine, but also the indirect economic and social effects of having sons, brothers, husbands and fathers in prison indefinitely.

The Palestinian Working Women’s Society for Development (PWWSD), an organization committed to the upholding of human rights for women, calls for an immediate end to the administrative detention of Hana Shalabi. It calls for the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the arbitrary detention of Palestinian citizens, and to release those who are being held without substantial evidence.